To be Death's Master
by halfeatenmoon
Summary: Time is running out and although the six children are getting close to their goal, some unfortunate attacks mean that humans and digimon are separated, making things more difficult than ever.
1. No news is bad news

_"I will be death's master"_

Chapter 1 – No news is good news? 

Taichi Yagami slammed the front door behind him, dumped his schoolbag on the floor and flopped on the couch, switching on the TV. He'd done really well at soccer practice, and all the recent Digiworld problems were more or less solved. School had only just started back after the winter holidays - and the defeat of MaloMyotismon. Koushiro reported that the six younger Digidestined were going back to Digiworld after school to check up on things. The former goggle-boy had felt a slight pang at that - he would have liked to go too, but soccer had gotten in the way. That was why there were other Chosen Children, because the older ones were busy. Not because he wasn't needed and certainly not because he couldn't rise to the challenge.

At any rate Hikari should be home right now… Taichi opened his mouth to give her a yell, then changed his mind. He couldn't really be bothered. There were more important things to do. Food! He needed food. Right now, unless he was going to starve to death within five minutes.

_Hmm,_ he thought, opening the fridge, _Getting a bit low on the junk. No chocolate at all! But I could really use a full size super-sandwich._

Fifteen minutes, two tomatoes, half a loaf of bread, three lettuce leaves, some mayonnaise, a small salami, a jar of peanut butter, a hunk of cheese and a jelly bean later, Taichi looked around at the mess that used to be a kitchen. Ooh, Mum was really going to love cleaning this one up. Maybe he should grab a sponge and just wipe some of that salsa off the fruit cake… nah, that would mean he was actually doing something useful. And he had a reputation of untidiness to uphold.

Besides, the TV was waiting.

****** 

At about six thirty, long after Taichi had begun snoring, Mrs. Yagami shook him awake to force him to clean up the mess he'd made in the kitchen. She didn't seem to pleased about the fact that he'd smeared food on just about every bench top in the room. Taichi couldn't see what the fuss was all about. What did it matter if the kitchen was a little messed up? Mrs Yagami's food was barely edible anyway, and a bit of muck wasn't going to harm it - it might even do her cooking some good.

"By the way, Taichi," she asked, picking up his stinking shoes "Do you know where Hikari is? It'll be dinner time soon, and she hasn't come home yet."

Normally, Taichi would think his sister had done the smart thing and tried to avoid her mum's cooking, but today he felt a ripple of excitement that he barely noticed under the wave of shock. He nearly dropped the bowl of salad he was holding into the sink.

"She hasn't been here at all?" he nearly shouted.

"No, I haven't seen or heard from her since the two of you left for school this morning." his mother remarked, as she tossed his shoes into the black hole of junk that was his bedroom.

"Um, look, I gotta call Yamato. Urgently. Really!" Taichi stammered, rushing to the phone.

"But you haven't finished cleaning… oh, never mind." his mum finished, shaking her head at the remaining mess that was her kitchen. It would take ages to clean this up, and dinner would be late now. Such a pity, she had a new recipe she wanted to try: chilli and cabbage meatloaf!

****** 

Meanwhile, Yamato braced himself as he opened the fridge. Yep, same as usual. Looks like takeaway pizza for dinner again. It was either that or try to make something edible out of the mouldy, half eaten bits and pieces that were in the fridge. Was that a steak or was it Gabumon's old chew toy? It would take hours just to make that taste as good as Mrs Yagami's food. And Yamato decided he'd rather have another round with Myotismon than that.

The phone rang just as he was debating whether to get the Hawaiian or Mexican pizza. "Hello, Ishida residence. Oh, hey Taichi. What's up?"

"Remember how Koushiro said the six were going to Digiworld today? Just to check up on things?"

"Yeah, Takeru told me it'd only take half an hour. So what?"

"Well, it's been just a bit more that half an hour," Taichi replied, sharply, "And Hikari still hasn't come home,"

Yamato was suddenly a whole lot more interested.

"Yeah. Exactly. I'll bet if you ring your brother or Daisuke you'll find exactly that both of them are gone, too. It's not a great situation."

"What could have happened, though?" Yamato asked, really worried now.

"The only thing I can think of is that the Digiport has stuffed up and they can't get back. I'll have to tackle old Izumi about that one, though. You call the others and see whether they're gone too."

"There is another possibility. Stuck in the Digiworld and can't get back. What does this remind you of?"

"Umm..."

"Leave your brain on the soccer field again, Yagami?" Yamato snorted. "It's like when we first went there, all those years ago. When we were sucked in and couldn't come back. Maybe that's all that happened, and they'll be back as soon as they've done what they have to do."

"Maybe so, but time passes at the same rate in both the two worlds now. So if our six little pals are gone for a month, then people in this world are going to notice. And search. And possibly figure out where they've gone. And that could get us in trouble, you know?"

"Oh. Yeah. I suppose we better do something, huh."

"Yep. Look, you call the others and see what happened. We don't want a false alarm. I'll see what Koushiro knows."

"Sure. Later."

Yamato stared for a moment at the phone. Then he started to dial the Takaishis' number, thinking that maybe he wouldn't have to decide between the Hawaiian and the Mexican after all.

****** 

Sitting in the computer lab at school, Koushiro was completely lost in some computer code he'd found over the Internet. He'd barely moved since the five younger kids had zipped through the Digiport to meet Ken and roam about a bit. He looked around for a while, but he knew there were no more Control Spires to worry about, so why bother? The others should be fine. They were only checking around in case of trouble. Nothing he had to worry about. He didn't notice the time at all until the teacher in the lab told him they were closing up. Koushiro looked at the time. Nearly six o'clock! And no-one had come out of the Digiport at all. Something was definitely wrong.

"Come on, Izumi," Mr Fujiyama told him, "You've got computers at home, you go play there,"

"NO!" Koushiro burst out. "I mean, I have to finish this. Really badly. See, there's this, um, program on the school computers that I don't have at home, and I have to use it and finish this project tonight."

"Bad luck, it'll just have to wait, even if you do know more about computers than I do. You should have finished your project earlier." He had now closed down all the programs on the computer and was shutting it down.

"No please, can't I stay just a bit longer?" he begged, even as the last computer screen turned black and the last flickering light went out.

"I'm sorry, Mr Izumi, but you have to go now and that's final," his teacher said, steering Koushiro out the door and switching off the lights.

He knew when he was beaten. Without even saying goodbye, Koushiro rushed to grab his bag and raced home. Something was definitely wrong. It wasn't unusual for business in the Digiworld to take longer than expected, but he hadn't received a single massage warning him about it. There was no reason he could think of for the others not telling him they were staying late - they were in danger. He had to home so that he could begin to figure out what the heck was happening.

****** 

"Yes, Taichi, I know, I'm working on it right now." Koushiro balanced the phone on his shoulder, typing furiously on the computer. "I don't know what happened, but no-one has left the Digiworld at all since they first entered it this afternoon. I'm trying to figure out what happened to them, but I can't contact anyone at all."

"There's nothing? Absolutely no trace of them?" Taichi asked, desperately. "They'd tell you something, surely."

"Well, I did get another weird message from Gennai this morning, but nothing that makes any sense."

"You're _sure _there are no clues there?"

"Would you call a picture of Leomon and Ogremon tap-dancing a clue?"

"No, I suppose not. Well, if you find anything, give me a yell, okay?"

"Hey, no worries," Koushiro assured him, "I'm on it. I just hope there is something we can do. Later,"

He turned back to his computer. Yep, there were Leomon and Ogremon doing their dance again. How was that supposed to help? He watched the dancing carefully, though, and soon realised that there was a pattern to it. He began tapping at the keyboard. It took a few minutes to get his typing in time with the dance, but he finally got the hang of it. He figured out the different keys for each different step in the dance, and finally cracked the exhausting code.

The dancing digimon disappeared. (How's that for a tongue twister?) The window became blank, just plain white, with a few toolbars slowly appearing. It was starting to look almost like an internet chatroom or something. _Well, I'll try anything once,_ he thought, and began to type.

**Koushiro: Could someone please tell me what the heck is going on?**

**Miyako: KOUSHIRO?!**

**Koushiro: You were expecting Wizardmon?**

**Miyako: No, Diaboromon, actually. How did you get through to us?**

**Koushiro: I have no idea. But I do have a few questions. Why didn't you lot come home? Are the others even with you?**

**Miayko: Yep, everyone's here, reading over my shoulder. And Gatomon says don't insult Wizardmon.**

**Koushiro: I'll keep it in mind. Now where are you? And why didn't you come home?**

**Miyako: Well, we're kind of stuck. Trapped. In this dungeon sort of place. In a castle. You see, we somehow turned up at this mountain, and there was a really weird digimon, and - Daisuke says hurry up, we haven't got all day.**

**Koushiro: You certainly aren't going anywhere. but why don't the digimon just digivolve and bust out?**

**Miyako: Another weird thing. They took our digivices. And rookie digimon - sorry, Gatomon, rookie _and_ champion digimon - aren't going to get us very far in this place.**

**Koushiro: Why would anyone want to capture you, anyway?**

**Miyako: I don't know, and I don't think I want to find out. If you saw the sort of digimon that live in this place... Oh, no, I think I hear one of them coming now. Look, you and the rest of the group have to come and help us. There's nothing we can do.**

The screen flickered, then turned black.

"Miyako? Damn!"Koushiro slammed a fist down on the desk. "This is trouble. They can't come back. They'll be in there for ages. Their parents will find out and get all worried and mad and even if we do get the kids back they'll probably be grounded for all eternity and never be able to go to the digiworld again!"

He gripped the edge of his desk and calmed down enough to start thinking again. Then he grabbed the phone and redialled Taichi's number.

"Yeah, I found them. But they're not coming back."

****** 

In the confusion created by the Chosen Children's absence, nobody would notice whether or not their older counterparts were at school, so an emergency meeting was held at Koushiro's the next morning. As the redhead was telling Taichi and Sora what he had found, Jyou and Mimi stumbled through the door.

"Ooh, I'm really getting to hate travelling by those Digiports!" Mimi complained. "I ended up coming through a computer back at the school! You must have done something wrong, Koushiro!"

"It's the quickest way for you to get from America to here. And we need you here."

Mimi sighed "I thought I was through with all this stuff. It's such a nuisance."

"Uh, maybe it's just me," Jyou said, "But aren't we missing someone?"

"Yamato hasn't turned up yet." Sora agreed. "You seen him lately, Taichi?"

"Well, I spoke to him on the phone last night, and Koushiro called him this morning, but nothing other than that."

They didn't have to worry, however, because just then a slightly concerned Mrs Izumi knocked on the door.

"There's another friend of yours at the door, Koushiro." she said, frowning, "But he seems kind of... well... a bit mad, to tell you the truth. Should I let him in?"

"Yes! Let me in, let me in, LET ME _IN!_" Yamato shouted from somewhere around the front door.

"I think you should let him come in, Mum." Koushiro told her, fighting to keep a straight face.

Seconds later, a bedraggled Yamato stumbled through Koushiro's bedroom door. "Sorry to barge in, Mrs Izumi," he panted, "But I couldn't wait any longer. She might find me." he finished, as if this explained everything.

"Never mind, Mum, never mind." her son smiled. "We'll be fine."

As soon as Mrs Izumi closed the door, everyone cracked up laughing. "It's not that funny" Yamato said, indignantly, "It's an awful nuisance."

"Aw, c'mon, Yama," Taichi grinned at him, "What happened this time?"

The blonde just sighed and flopped down in a chair. "Well, remember, Taichi, how _you_ told me to check if all the younger kids were around? Well, I tried Takeru, but Mum said he wasn't in. I thought hey, no biggie, he's probably just gone off with Hikari someplace. At least, I wanted to think that. Although normally, that would worry me. I mean," He looked at Taichi, "My brother and your sister? Out alone? At 6:30 pm?!"

"Concerning." Taichi replied. "So what, exactly, did you do next?"

"Well, I thought I should call Daisuke, you know, see if there was really something wrong. Or if there wasn't, shock him by saying that Takeru and Hikari had both mysteriously disappeared. But then, when the phone rang, I sort of realised... but then it was too late... And Jun picked it up!" his voice rose to a wail on the last few words, but could barely be heard over the laughter from the rest of the gang.

"Let me guess," Tai said, at last, "Jun has now forgiven you for breaking her heart on Christmas Eve because the fact that you actually rang her house, and she got to the phone and spoke to you, is some sign that you really, truly _do_ love her?"

"And she's been after me ever since." Yamato agreed, gloomily, amid gales of laughter.

"It really is pretty bad luck, Yama," Mimi said, through her giggles, "Jun has absolutely no sense of fashion."

"The price of fame, Ishida." Sora teased. "A celebrity's curse!"

"And speaking of curses, maybe we should figure out what happened to the kids." Koushiro reminded them all. "I'm assuming Daisuke wasn't home?"

"If he was home, he would have saved me."

"Yes, well, it would be the only humane thing to do, wouldn't it?"

"Look, what are we going to do about all this?" Jyou asked, fingering his Digivice nervously. "I mean, I saw it on the news and stuff. Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Miyako and Iori have just totally disappeared."

"And Ken," Sora interrupted. "It's even bigger news about him, since he went all weird before."

"This is worse than I thought," Yamato said, shaking his head. He had things other than Jun to think about. "Man, I had no idea."

"So what are we going to do?" Taichi asked, angrily "We can just leave all six of them, plus their digimon, wherever they – actually, what did happen to them, Koushiro?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," their youngest member announced. "I managed to get through to Miyako last night and talk to her. I think something's wrong now, because I can't re-establish the connection. I can, however, use the information she gave me, little as it is. It seems that the digidestined are being held captive in the dungeon of a castle. They were tricked by some strange digimon, or something like that. This digimon has also taken away their digivices, so nobody can digivolve, and our good digimon's current forms aren't going to be able to fight very well."

"So what does this have to do with all of us?" Mimi asked, "I mean, they're supposed to be the fighters now, what are we supposed to do?"

"How can you say that, Mimi?" Taichi cried, angrily. 

"Yeah, we've got to do something! I'm not going to sit around here if Takeru's in danger!" Yamato

"Look, stop shouting. My parents won't like it." Koushiro told them. "You're right though. We do have to take action. That's why I've called you here. We're going to go back to Digiworld."

"You say this digimon has captured the other Digidestined," Sora asked, "Won't it try to do the same to us?"

"No, I don't think so, or it would have taken some action by now. Somehow, it would be able to draw us in, create a rift between our worlds. We don't seem to be part of this creature's plan. It obviously doesn't think we're going to be any trouble, either. So we will have some advantage in that we won't be expected."

"Um… that's a good thing, right?" Jyou asked.

"Well, yes. Our digimon can be a lot more powerful than they appear, and two of our digimon can go all the way to Mega. There are some downsides to all this though,"

"Like what?" everyone was suddenly listening attentively.

"Well, for one thing, we'll have to stay in the Digiworld constantly. No jumping back and forth like we have been. We just have to jump right in there and stay there until we've freed the other digidestined. With no-one to look after the Digiport while we're in there, there's no way of us going through it without the danger of being seen."

"But then that must mean…" Sora's voice trailed off as she realised what this meant.

"It means," Koushiro said, solemnly, "That even if we do defeat this digimon, there may be no way for us to get back to the real world."

Everyone was silent for a minute, and stared at Koushiro. You could just read the thoughts on their faces. _Can we risk this? What will we do if we don't come back? People will miss us. **Is it worth it?** _

"When we first went to the Digiworld, over four years ago, we had no idea whether we'd ever get home again." Taichi said, slowly. "We just had to go along with it, do what we could, even if we didn't know what would happen. But that didn't stop us then, and we shouldn't let it worry us now. We have to do whatever we can. Right?"

He looked around at all his friends. All of them nodded, one by one. Even Mimi and Jyou had no complaints this time.

"Well, in that case, we'll take the rest of the day to get things in order." Taichi switched into leader mode. "If we're going in, we may as well go in prepared, since we have the option. Sleeping bags, torches, matches, food - especially food. Meet back here at three this afternoon to leave. Oh, and it might be a good idea to leave a note or something so people know where we've gone."

The discussion turned to who would bring what and what was really necessary - and making sure Mimi knew what wasn't. She quickly departed via Koushiro's computer and the others left to pack soon after.

"Remember, we'll be back at three." Taichi said to Koushiro on the way out.

"I don't need your reminders." was the redhead's blunt reply. "There are _some_ things I can manage without your help." And he shut the door behind his bushy-haired leader before the latter had a chance to respond.

Taichi barely noticed the sting of his friend's words. He was too excited about the upcoming trip to let anything bother him at all. He never thought to be ashamed of his happiness at his young counterparts' misfortune - all he thought about was the joy of going back, finding Agumon and leading his friends into battle once more. In the three-and-a-half years since his effective retirement, he had missed the 'old days' incredibly, especially when he wasn't chosen for the recent six-month campaign against MaloMyotismon and his minions. Koushiro's acidic comment didn't bother him at all; soon they'd be roughing it in the Digital World and things would be just the way they used to be.

It never occurred to Taichi that just as the six individuals had changed over the last three years, the team may have changed too.

~~~~~~

Well, are you interested? Do you want to know what happens next? Yes? No? Well, whatever you think, please, review. Even flames accepted! Flames welcomed, actually, as I can't seem to light this barbeque. *kicks BBQ* Suggestions (on the fic or the barbie, either will do) are always appreciated. And if you really like it, read the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I would like to say that I own Digimon, as it was a fantastic idea and a great story, but I don't. That belongs to Toei. And Fox. And a whole bunch of other people that I don't know about. I do own this fanfic, the original digimon in this fanfic, and Taichi's super sandwich.

The quote at the beginning was from _Dragon Wing,_ the first book in the seven-part fantasy series, _The Death Gate Cycle._


	2. Seriously Creepy

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon. I do own Cronomon. Also the mountain, the lake, the castle and the other creepy things inside the castle.

Hopefully, this chapter will explain a bit more to anyone who is still reading. If it doesn't, then let me assure you that I should get past the introductions by chapter 5.

Chapter 2 – Seriously Creepy 

The minute Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Miyako and Iori entered the Digiworld, they could see something was wrong. Something was different, anyway. They had emerged from the digiport into a place that they had never seen before. Not even Takeru, who had travelled farther than any of the others, knew where the group was now. They were at the bottom of a series of cliffs, that rose up and up into the sky. Behind them was a huge lake that seemed to stretch far beyond them on either side. And on the far bank of the lake was a dark forest that seemed to be devoid of any life, Digimon or otherwise.

"Where did all the other digimon go?" Patamon wondered, peering into the trees.

"Never mind the digimon, where have _we_ gone?" said Takeru.

"Kinda creepy here, isn't it?" Iori said, thoughtfully, as he gazed up at the castle.

"_Kinda_ creepy?" Miyako retorted, "I haven't seen something like this since… actually, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this."

"Well, whatever's up with this weird place, I bet there's some evil digimon behind it, and we have to stop them!" Daisuke was determined to have at least one fight before they returned to the real world.

"Yeah, we're gonna fight!" Veemon agreed.

Takeru rolled his eyes. "Geez, you two will use any excuse for a fight. We don't know if there's anything wrong at all – yet. Don't jump to conclusions."

"Sometimes there are other ways to win than just fighting." Patamon agreed. "Life isn't always a soccer game, you know!"

"And sometimes there aren't even any enemies to worry about." Gatomon jumped in, having her say. "You have to find out what's going on before you can do anything about it."

"Geez, you don't all have to gang up on me." Daisuke grumbled, scuffing his shoes in the dust.

Ignoring the goggle boy's reprimands, Armadillomon peered at the water in the lake. Gingerly, he sniffed it and then delicately dipped his tongue in for a taste.

"Yeuch!" he exclaimed, jumping back. "Nobody drink the water! It's disgusting!"

"How disgusting is it, exactly?" Hawkmon pondered.

"It's an interesting blend, actually," began Armadillomon the food expert. "An interesting cross between pond slime, dead fish and..." he paused for a moment, thinking hard, "And Cody's socks after he's been to a kendo lesson."

"Armadillomon!" Iori said, looking shocked, "I wondered why I had so many odd socks. You're eating them!"

"Aw, c'mon now, Iori." Armadillomon cringed slightly. "A mon gets pretty hungry sometimes, you know."

"I thought we came here to scout around, look out for trouble." Miyako said, impatient. "I'm going to going to go and have a look around. C'mon, Hawkmon."

As Miyako and Aquilamon flew out of sight, Hikari realised that maybe they should figure out where they were. Nothing like this had ever happened before, coming through the digiport to a place they had never seen. She began to play around with her digivice, searching for a clue.

"I don't think that'll be much help." Takeru said, peering over her shoulder.

"Oh? Why not?" she asked. She put her digivice away, all the same.

"If we don't know where we are, then I doubt the D3 will. They only remember places they've been before."

"Yes, I suppose so. But if we've never been here, or anywhere near this place before, then why are we here today?"

That question had everyone stumped for quite a while. Iori stopped quizzing Armadillomon on the missing socks. Daisuke and Veemon stopped looking at the mountain, the lake, the forest and the speck of mud on his shoe as if they were all going to attack him. If they had been able to hear, Miyako and Aquilamon would probably stop and wonder as well.

"Think about it." Hikari continued, as if they weren't already. "The digiport almost always dumps us somewhere we know, either a place that we've come across recently or a place visited years ago during the first trip to the digital world. Why, after all this time, would it leave us somewhere completely new?"

"I'll tell you why." As usual, he and Wormmon had decided to show up when they were least expected. "It's because _someone_ configured a kind of warp so that we would all come right here. I don't know how or why, but somebody wants us here, for their own reasons, whether they be good or bad."

"Spot on." a croaky voice said, out of nowhere. "You must be smarter than I thought."

"Who's there?" Gatomon asked, her eyes narrowed. "Show yourself, now!"

"Gladly," said the digimon, as it stepped out of the shadows. It was a big black bird digimon, with a long, sharp beak and cold eyes, holding a small, round object in one claw.

"Who are you?" Ken asked, rather surprised. "I didn't think there were any digimon around here, besides ours."

"Ah, well, that's where you're wrong!" the bird replied, triumphantly. "I'm a native to these parts. And yes, you were correct about the warp. I created a warp within the digiport that would bring anyone travelling through it directly to this place. It was extremely difficult to create, let me tell you that. Although I do think it was rather well done, don't you? Tapping through the digital system was -"

"Hey! You guys!" The bird was interrupted as Yolei sprinted toward the group, with Hawkmon close behind. "You won't believe where we've gotten to. The mountain is absolutely enormous, we could barely see the top of it. The forest was so big we couldn't find the end and... what is that?!"

Miyako caught sight of the black bird that claimed to have brought them to this part of the digiworld, and stopped short, glaring. She obviously didn't think it should be trusted. Hawkmon recognized the weird creature at once.

"I know you!" he exclaimed, "You're Cronomon!"

"Well, I don't care what it's called, but I don't like it." Miyako said, defiantly. "It's just as creepy as the rest of this place."

"Well, I must admit, I wouldn't trust this bird myself." Hawkmon sniffed. "She's only a rookie digimon, but she has a strange power – see that thing in her claws? She can teleport from place to place."

"Plus she's been known to hang around with some evil digimon before," Patamon added, watching Cronomon warily.

"Well, I want to know why she brought us here." said Iori.

"_She_ brought us here?" Miyako repeated, looking alarmed.

"Yes, apparently." said ken

"_You're _here?" Miyako said again. "Ken, why do you always have to appear out of thin air like that? Will someone _please_ explain to me what is going on?"

Everyone, six humans and six digimon, turned to look at Cronomon.

"Well, I might as well explain." she sighed, ruffling her feathers and settling down on the rock. "It's true that I have been involved with some evil digimon before, a long time ago, but I didn't do anything really bad. I was only very young," she looked pointedly at Gatomon, "just as you were when you were taken and used by Myotismon."

"You keep Myotismon out of this." Gatomon replied, grumpily.

"Sorry to offend you, Gatomon. But I go on with my story. I decided to put all that behind me and find another place to live. So that's why I came here, to the mountains. There are some other digimon here as well, and we all live together quite well. However, we are faced with a problem.

"Many of the digimon I live with are getting sick, suffering from some disease that has never before been seen anywhere in the digital world. The master of my home knew of the digidestined, children and digimon sent to help right the wrongs of the digiworld, and suggested that we get them to help us in our plight.

"It was I who discovered a way to bring you here, using the teleportation power of this handy little thing." She held out the little thing in her claw. "I managed to create a warp that brought anyone travelling through a digiport straight to this mountain. Although, it might have been better if I had made it the _top_ of the mountain. But no matter. Will you help us with our troubles?"

"I suppose we really should help." Ken began. "That is our duty as the digidestined. And I haven't been a very good digidestined so far, so I feel I should make up for it."

"Doesn't sound like much fun." Daisuke muttered. Veemon nodded in agreement. "I'm in it for adventure, and fights! Not a bunch of sick digimon on a cold mountain."

"Like we said before," Iori began, "There's more ways to win than just fighting. I'm going."

"And I'll go wherever he does." said Armadillomon, defiantly.

Hikari and Takeru nodded their agreement. Daisuke immediately changed his mind immediately, deciding that if Hikari thought they should, then they should. Only Miyako and Hawkmon were yet to be convinced. They still didn't trust this bird that came from nowhere, had the power to teleport, and told stories of sick digimon in a land devoid of life.

"How do we know that this isn't just another plot dreamed up by more evil digimon to try to kill us?" she raged. "We're just going to go along with it, and we have absolutely no idea!"

"You don't know what Cronomon's like." Hawkmon insisted. "I've met her before. Only once, just briefly, but it was enough for me to know that she can't be trusted."

But nothing they could do would sway the other digidestined from going along with Cronomon, to do all they could to help these poor, sick digimon.

"So where are these digimon?" Veemon asked, eagerly.

"At the top of the mountain."

Everyone groaned, remembering Yolei's description. 'The mountain is enormous,' she'd said, 'we could barely see the top of it. How were they going to climb the mountain _and _get back to the real world in time for dinner?

"Um, it'd take us quite a while to get there, Cronomon." Takeru told the bird, gingerly.

"And we don't have all that much time." Hikari agreed.

"Oh, that's no problem at all." Cronomon assured them. "I can zap us all there in no time at all, using this nifty little device." She held out the thing in her claw for all the children to see.

"No way!" Miyako burst out. "I'm not getting zapped anywhere by some creepy digimon with a weird rubber ball. Who knows what she could get up to?"

Iori shook his head. "Even if Cronomon turned on us, she has absolutely no chance of beating our digimon, even if they don't digivolve. Either way, we win."

"Yeah, an you don't wanna just leave all those other digimon stranded up there, do ya?" Armadillomon agreed immediately.

Miyako sighed. Why wouldn't they listen to her? Sure, she made on-the-spot decisions more than she should, but she was so _sure_ that this was a bad idea.

"Well, I don't like it either," Hawkmon muttered, "But let's go along with it for now. If anything goes wrong, I'm here to protect you."

She still didn't want to go along with it, but it was reassuring for Miyako to know that someone believed her. She'd go. Hawkmon believed, so she would go. And if it turned out that she was right, she could rub all their noses in it. Yeah, she might as well go.

But she still didn't like Cronomon.

"So how does this thing work, Cronomon?" Hikari asked, looking at the tiny sphere.

"It's quite simple, really." The digimon croaked. "Just stand there and we'll be up the top of that cliff in a jiffy."

As the children watched, Cronomon's little device began to glow. The world around them seemed to fade away as the swirling colour took its place.

_I still don't like this,_ the Inoue girl thought to herself, as the world disappeared. _I don't like this at all. _

******

The colour that surrounded the children and digimon began to fade, and they found themselves at the top of the mountain, outside a castle. A cold wind blew about them, making everyone wish they had worn a jacket.

"I'm back!" Cronomon called, knocking on the door. "Oh come on, open up, it's me! And I brought visitors. Stupid door."

With one last, huge effort, Cronomon finally managed to pull open the big wooden door, and was thrown sprawling in the dust. "Honestly, don't see why they have to make those things so heavy… Ah, yes, come on children, come right in."

She hopped and fluttered into the hallway, which seemed rather dark, lit only by the light from the windows. All six children wandered in, gazing around.

"I've brought the children, master, you see?" Cronomon called into the darkness.

"Excellent," was the smooth reply, "Bring them in, so that I can meet them."

"Uh, that's very nice of you, but I think we'd better go now, and come back later, when we know what to do about the, um, disease." Daisuke said, nervously, backing away.

"Yeah, we told Koushiro we'd be back by four thirty," Veemon agreed, nodding vigorously.

"And we really don't know anything about medicine." Ken added, just for good measure. "Not even me, and I'm supposed to be a genius!"

"Oh, but you can't leave now," the voice said, "Can he, Miyako?"

Everyone turned around to where Miyako had been standing, and where she was now being held up in the air, in Cronomon's claws, with several other large, menacing digimon behind them.

"Told you we shouldn't have come with her," Yolei spat, nodding at Cronomon.

"Told you she was bad news." Hawkmon agreed, from where he was lying on the ground.

Somehow, although they were beaten and helpless, Miyako and Hawkmon still managed to sound as annoying as ever.

"Yeah, she isn't always as dumb as she looks, you know," Cronomon told them, "But it's too late now. All of you are staying with us."

~~~~~~

So what do you think? Making more sense now? Well, I'll try to make things more interesting in the next chapter, which should be up within a week. Please, do me a favour and review! And by the way, I don't have anything against Miyako. I kinda like her, actually. It's just that she reminds me of my little sister and she really seemed to work with the role of being distrustful and all.


	3. Welcome Back

Disclaimer: Although I don't own the concept of digimon itself, Cronomon, Tauromon, Serpentmon, Kappamon and Banemon are all mine. They're also all bad. An you're about to meet them all.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first two chapters of this story, it's really encouraging. And as for how they got through the digiport?

Chapter 3 – Welcome Back 

"This is weird." Taichi commented, gazing upward at the mountain. "I've never seen a place like this before. How did we end up here?"

"I really don't know," Agumon replied, shrugging, "We just kind of turned up here when you guys came through the Digiport."

"Well, it would help an awful lot if we knew exactly where we were," Sora commented, gazing across the enormous lake to the shadowy forest of the distant shore. "Can't you find anything on you computer, Koushiro?"

"I'm afraid this particular location isn't marked on any of my maps," the redhead apologized, typing on his faithful old laptop. "Though it is definitely part of the Digital World. We're on a landmass in Digiworld quite far away from either File Island or Server, the only two places in Digiworld we really know well, possibly even the other side of the planet. Though it's still a mystery how we managed to get here,"

"Well, I do have some idea," Tentomon volunteered, "I believe that we digimon may have emerged through some sort of mono-dimensional space-rip just as you came to Digiworld."

Everyone looked quizzically at Tentomon.

"Well, I do listen to Koushiro a lot." Tentomon said, "Why shouldn't I come up with my own theories?"

"Even I hardly understand that!" his human friend laughed. "What does that mean in English?"

Gomamon grinned, waving a claw in the air. "I don't know anything about mono-demented space flips, but I can tell you how we got here." he suggested, as Tentomon twitched his antennae indignantly.

"It's mono dimension-" Tentomon began, but was interrupted by Mimi.

"Oh, stop using all those big words." she said, annoyed. "None of understand you anyway. Why don't you let someone we can understand tell us what happened?"

Tentomon sat down in the dust, slightly disappointed, but didn't interrupt as Biyomon explained.

"There was nothing unusual happening, really." she told the crowd. "I was just eating breakfast this morning, when suddenly I'm here instead of there. I think it's got something to do with you coming to the digital world and us having to meet you - but why did we all end up here?"

"That's just what I said." Tentomon muttered to himself.

"Ah, don't worry." Koushiro said, smiling. "You'll have your chance to help out later."

"So what exactly are we going to do?" Yamato wanted to know. "I mean, if Takeru's in trouble, I can't just sit around here. We have to _do_ something."

"Well, just as long as nothing tries to kill me or anything," Mimi shuddered.

Jyou snorted. "You've _got_ to be kidding me. This is Digiworld we're talking about. Everything's out to get us!"

"Going by what Miyako told me, I think we should head up this mountain." Koushiro said "She mentioned the mountain and a castle dungeon in the time I had to talk. We've found the mountain, but there doesn't seem to be a castle anywhere, so I suggest we head up the mountain to search for it. Even if the castle isn't up there, we'll get a better view and might be able to find it"

"That's settled then." Yamato agreed, looking around at his friends. "We'll head up the mountain and see what these digimon are. They can't be any match for ours!"

"Hang on! I'm the leader, I'm supposed to make the decisions." Taichi complained.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Jyou asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I... what Yamato said, I guess."

Mimi wasn't having any of it, though.

"Me? _Climb?_ A _mountain?!_" Mimi moaned. "I can't do that! It's so big. And scary. I might break a nail!"

She stamped her foot angrily, then realised that everyone was ignoring her complaints and had begun clambering up the rough mountain path, toward the danger that was lying in wait for them up ahead.

"Oh, why do I have to do these things?" Mimi sighed, and began to clamber up the steep, narrow path behind the others.

"Don't worry Mimi," Palmon assured her friend. "I'll be here with you all the way."

"I suppose it'll be okay, then," Mimi said, still sounding unconvinced, "But why can't anybody else ever save the world?"

****** 

After half an hour of climbing up the steep, winding path, the Digidestined decided to take a break. The digimon were hungry, Koushiro was back to playing with his laptop and Jyou and Mimi were dead. Well, extremely and unbearably tired, anyway.

So Taichi, Yamato and Sora were left to wonder what exactly they were going to do about an enemy they hadn't even met yet.

"Do you think whoever it is knows we're here yet?" the blonde wondered, leaning against a rock.

"Well, if they don't yet, they will soon," Sora said, loftily, watching Biyomon picking fruit out of a nearby tree. "We always seem to attract plenty of attention, don't we?"

"Bit hard to ignore us once they digivolve, isn't it?" Taichi commented, nodding at Agumon, who was stuffing his face with the fruit Biyomon was picking. "Best to let them eat, though. Can't digivolve on an empty stomach!"

"My thoughts exactly." Tentomon agreed. The little guts had already plucked one tree of its fruit and was quickly moving onto another.

"There's not much we can do to plan an attack now, is there?" Taichi asked, getting back to more important matters. "We don't know who we're fighting or what they're going to do when they find us."

"That never seemed to bother you before," Yamato pointed out. "We just went ahead and fought, and if that didn't work, we fought harder. Why should this be any different?"

"Because before, that's what our enemies were doing as well." Sora replied. "This is different, because the others haven't been hurt at all, just disarmed and captured. This new digimon must want something more than just control of the digital world. There must be a reason for capturing our friends, a purpose, something. That's what makes it different."

The boys both looked at Sora in amazement. Why didn't they think of that?

"You think we should just break into the dungeon and then get out of here?" Yamato asked, incredulous

"No, that wouldn't work either, because their digivices were taken from them." The leader shook his head "We'd have to get them back as well."

"When did we find that out?"

"When you were busy dodging Jun."

"Oh, shut up." Yamato scowled.

"Make me."

"Fine then."

Sora sighed as the boys left off conversation and began a furious fight down in the grass. It wasn't surprising, really. Fighting each other was the way the two boys liked to let off steam, and they built up a lot of it when they were in the digital world. It seemed that today they didn't even need an excuse. There was no issue of authority today like their usually was. Ah, well, that was probably a good thing. Best to put off the struggle for leadership for as long as possible

Gomamon crawled to the bottom of Biyomon's tree. "Please, food." he begged. "I'm not meant to climb mountains, my fur's a mess, there's mud on my claws, have pity, Biyomon!"

"Oh, stop whining." Biyomon smiled, and began to pelt Gomamon with fruit.

"Ow! Okay, I'm not hungry anymore. Stop it!"

Suddenly, Biyomon stopped, looking around. "Something's out there," she told the others, looking around from her perch in the tree.

"Do you think it could be the other kids?" Sora asked, hopefully.

"No, it's a digimon, I'm sure of it," Biyomon told her friend, firmly.

Then, out of the blue…

"ROOOOAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, the digimon forgot about lunch, Yamato and Taichi forgot their fight, Jyou and Mimi both miraculously recovered and Koushiro furiously punched the keys on his laptop.

"Okay, I guess they know we're here after all!" Yamato shouted over the noise.

A big, angry looking digimon crashed through the trees to face the children and digimon. Its body was human, but it had the head and tail of an angry bull.

"That's Tauromon!" Koushiro said, typing on his laptop at warp speed.

"Yes, I've heard of him," Tentomon agreed. "He's a nasty sort of digimon, and you'd better not get him mad, because his Bullseye attack hardly ever misses."

"Let's get out of here!" Taichi yelled. And the Digidestined once again began their usual Digiworld activity. Running.

All six kids scrambled further up the path to the top of the mountain, hoping to outrun the raging Tauromon. Just as they thought they were leaving maddened digimon behind, another huge creature reared up before them, this time a huge snake.

"Serpentmon," Koushiro promptly informed everyone.

"She's got a killer Acid Attack," Tentomon followed up.

"Who cares?" Jyou cried, "I wanna go home!"

"I think Tauromon's coming back!" Biyomon cried urgently from the air.

"Well, we can't run all the time!" Agumon exclaimed, "Digivolve!"

I won't bother you by writing out all the digivolving details, (I find it really annoying, myself) but I'll just say that half a minute later, six champion digimon were facing off against Tauromon and Serpentmon.

"That's more like it!" Taichi exclaimed. "Go get 'em, Greymon!"

"Nova Blast!" Greymon roared, hurling his fireball at Serpentmon. But she ducked out of the way easily, dodging the attack.

"You really think you can hurt me with that?" Serpentmon hissed, taunting them.

"Too right we do!" Kabuterimon rasped, throwing an Electro – Shocker at her from behind.

Garurumon was hitting Tauromon full on in the face with his Howling Blaster, but it didn't seem to be having any effect.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon shrieked, hitting Tauromon right in the stomach. The strange looking digimon didn't even flinch, just tossed its head around angrily.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon's attack was cut short as Tauromon grabbed the missile and crushed it under his foot.

Tauromon roared and tossed his head. "Bullseye!" he said, hurling a red ball of light and knocking all three digimon down at once.

Togemon's Needle Spray had managed to land a hit on Serpentmon, but now the snake had stopped teasing and was fighting back.

"Acid Bomb!" she hissed, spitting a glowing ball at a nearby tree. As the ball hit the tree, the tree began to melt and disintegrate, slowly running into the ground.

"Scary, isn't it?" Serpentmon hissed menacingly, "Well watch out, because next time I won't miss. Will I, Tauromon?"

"No, and nor will I," Tauromon agreed, looking distastefully at the digimon.

"You didn't miss the first time." Mimi pointed out.

"So?"

"We can't take these two out," Sora muttered urgently, gesturing at Mimi to shut up, "We have to get out of here. Now!"

"That sounds good," Jyou agreed, nervously, "RUN!"

The children (and their now much larger digimon) crashed through the forest in an effort to escape the rampaging Tauromon and the smooth, cold Serpentmon.

"Look! A pool!" Ikkakumon grumbled as he lumbered along behind. "Jump in, they might not follow."

Everyone waded out into the deep water, clinging onto Ikkakumon or one of the other digimon. After a few minutes, it seemed that they had escaped the evil digimon.

"Trouble is," Yamato said, sitting high and dry on Garurumon's back, "Now we don't know where the path is."

"We probably won't have to worry about that for too long," Sora said, dryly.

"Yeah, trouble is bound to find us sooner or later," Taichi agreed, watching as Koushiro (surprise surprise) opened his laptop and began typing again.

"Uh, guys?" Ikkakumon said, nervously, "I don't think we're alone. There's something under the water…"

The something burst out of the water right in front of Ikkakumon. It had a lizard like head, long, scaly arms and legs with webbed hands and feet, and a tail with a sort of paddle on the end. It wasn't especially big, but it seemed very sinister, especially the moon and star mark on its forehead.

"This one is Kappamon," Koushiro told everyone. "A water demon digimon. She's supposed to be bad luck."

"In which case, I really do _not_ want to stick around here," Jyou replied, nervously.

"She's also extremely dangerous if you're not polite."

"Why bother with manners when we can fight?" an excited Taichi asked. "Greymon, digivolve!"

Once again, I'll cut the digivolving, except to say that there are now six ultimate digimon ready to fight.

"Giga blaster!"

"Wolf Claw!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

You get the idea.

Kappamon, still remaining silent, merely ducked under the water, easily avoiding all the attacks. Then, the kids heard a strange voice from under the water.

"Whirlpool." It said, quietly and smoothly.

The surface of the pool began to boil, throwing huge bubbles up everywhere, which quickly transformed into heaving waves. In seconds, a huge whirlpool had appeared in the centre of the pool. Then the water rose up from the pool in a whirling column, and crashed down on the kids and digimon.

"Sorry Taichi," Agumon said, digivolving back again. "She's just too powerful."

"Anyone up for another round?" Kappamon asked, menacingly, looking around at all the weakened digimon. "Because I have plenty more where that came from."

"Um, actually, I think we'd better be going now," Gomamon muttered, backing towards the trees, "Don't wanna be late for school, do ya Jyou?"

"What the heck are you talking about, I can't – ouch!" Jyou yelped, as someone trod on his foot. "Oh, yeah, I really have to run, catch you later!"

Everyone bolted, dashing for the trees behind them, and Kappamon roaring in frustration. It seemed she wasn't much use out of the water, which the Digidestined took for a good sign.

"You know," Mimi panted, scrambling upwards as the trees were replaced by rock, "One of these days I'd like to have a nice, quite trip to the Digiworld instead of all this running around,"

"Maybe one day, we will," Palmon told her, "but definitely not today!"

They slowed down after a few minutes of running and hit the narrow path again, continuing single-file. By now the whole group were starting to feel the weight of the packs on their backs and they began to stop more and more frequently. After almost an hour the thinning trees petered out all together and the lethargic path wriggled through a craggy and ever climbing wasteland. It was at about this point that the group realised they were running out of water.

"At least there's nothing attacking us." Jyou was dividing the last of the drinking water into bottles.

"Wonder how long _that's_ going to last," Yamato replied.

"Well, you never know, we could get lucky," Taichi said, stopping and flopping to the ground beneath a huge rock ledge.

Everyone thought they'd take advantage of the temporary safety to have a rest. They dumped their packs under the rock ledge and just sat around, trying not to eat _too_ much of their limited food supply.

"Well, I think that pretty much rules out the smooth trip." Koushiro said, dryly. "Those digimon are going to find us again without much trouble."

"Oh, I don't know." Jyou objected. "It'd be easy to hide with all these rocks."

"We can't stay here forever, though." Koushiro argued. "We'll have to get moving again. This mountain is huge, in area if not in height. We aren't even halfway there."

"It could be worse." Gomamon said. "We could get the rest of the way up the mountain with no trouble at all. We could be lucky."

"Not today," a growling voice said. The children and digimon watched in amazement as the most bizarre digimon yet leapt down from the ledge above them.

It looked, for the most part, like a giant wolf with blue-grey fur. It had enormous paws that looked like they could crush all the digimon in one swipe. And the tail wasn't particularly long, though it was very bushy. The strange thing was, it had three, very wolf like heads.

One of the heads, the one on the left, had its ears pricked, its tongue lolling out and its nose facing into the wind. The one on the left looked warily at the children, as if trying to figure out what to do with them. And the middle head was perhaps the scariest of all, baring its teeth and growling menacingly.

"Incredible!" Koushiro exclaimed, typing furiously on his laptop. "This is Banemon, an extremely powerful digimon. We're really going to have to be careful with this guy,"

"Yes, with those three heads, it's very hard to fight Banemon," Tentomon commented, "You have to attack him from all sides at once,"

"I think we'll manage," Taichi snorted, wriggling out of his backpack "Right, Ishida?"

"Absolutely." Yamato agreed, with a grin.

Yep, the warp-digivolve thing. So now we have WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.

"Terra Force!"

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

Well, what were you expecting?

"Quick everyone, get down here," Sora said, backing into a small cave she'd found in the rocks behind them. "Yamato, Taichi, you might want to jump down here too!"

"No worries, Sora, we'll be fine!" Taichi assured her. "Go get 'im, WarGreymon!"

"Yeah, right." Sora took their packs anyway.

"Oh, really," Banemon growled. "You think I'm that weak? Well here's something you don't see too often. Wolfbane!"

At that, Banemon's eyes began to glow bright red. The glowing light washed over the two mega digimon, and they fell to the ground.

"Agumon?" Taichi asked, picking up the battered digimon.

"Gabumon?" Yamato wondered, in disbelief.

"I don't know what happened," Agumon croaked.

"He made us de-digivolve, that's what," Gabumon told them.

"Not as powerful as you thought, are you?" Banemon taunted them. "And my master said the Digidestined would be a challenge. Ha!"

"Quick, get back down here!" Sora hissed at the two boys.

"Oh, but…" Taichi started to argue.

"No time, man." Yamato stopped him. "Just get in there. We're gonna have to run again. Sometimes you have to know when to give up."

Banemon yelped in surprise as he realised the children had found a way out. He ran back and forth at the edge of the cave, yelping and snapping, trying to find a way to get in.

"Nice move, furball," a croaky voice said, from outside the cave. "Time for you to go see the master. I'll take care of this lot."

The Digidestined peered out of their crack in the rocks, to see Cronomon hovering in the air before Banemon. She held a strange glowing ball in her claws, and as they watched, it began to glow. Suddenly Banemon disappeared completely, and there was only Cronomon left outside. She landed and turned to look at the Digidestined.

"So, you will have seen all of that, won't you?" she asked, looking shrewdly at the children. "And I suppose you're wondering what I did to Banemon."

"Not really," Koushiro replied, loftily, "I downloaded all the information from my computer. You're Cronomon, and that device in your claw is what you use to teleport things between places."

"Not bad," Cronomon replied. "Yes, you're right, I can jump between places. I just sent Banemon to our master. His master and mine. And now, that's where I'm taking you."

The strange device in Cronomon's claw began to glow again. All the Digi kids and they're mons began to feel really strange. They were floating somewhere, suspended in nothing. And suddenly, They came back to reality.

They were standing at the top of the tall mountain, at last. It was amazing, some of them thought, that a mountain could be this high and not be covered with snow. In front of them was the doors of a castle, heavy wooden doors. The sky was dark, and way below them, the children could just see the edge of the lake where they had started their trip. And as they watched, Cronomon dropped her device and knocked on the door with her claw.

~~~~~~

Well, that chapter was a lot longer than I planned. Hope I didn't bore you too much. I'll get started on the next one right away. Yeah, I know they don't digivolve to ultimate anymore, but I actually didn't know that until today. Blame it on the Channel 10. I never saw the last episode of 01.


	4. Enter Mordremon

Disclaimer: Here we go again! I don't own Digimon, that belongs to Toei, Fox, and some other people that I don't know anything about. I'll also mention that the Australian morning show Cheez TV have the rights to screen the Digimon show, (albeit randomly) and that's how I get to see it.

This chapter isn't quite as good as the others, in my opinion, as I've been really busy this week (it was my birthday on Monday) and didn't get a chance to go through the heavy editing process that my stories usually suffer from. However, I have given it a quick run through and it shouldn't be too bad. 

Chapter 4 – Enter Mordremon 

The door swung silently open.

"Time for you to meet my master," Cronomon croaked, fluttering off into the darkness.

"This looks great," Taichi muttered, peering around in the darkness, "First the kids go missing, we come to find them, get chased up a mountain by a bunch of weird digimon, then wind up here!"

"Uh, you forgot 'teleported to a creepy castle by a weird digimon that happens to look like a crow'," Yamato added.

"Yep, things just keep getting better and better." Sora joined in.

"Oh, it's too dark in here," Jyou muttered to himself. But Gomamon heard.

"Hey, can we have a bit of light over here?" he called out.

"Why, certainly." A strange voice said. "Welcome to Mordremon's castle."

Immediately, torches all along the walls burst into flame, and another digimon stood before them.

"Phantomon!" Koushiro exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Yes, I thought you were destroyed during Myotismon's reign!" Tentomon said.

"Oh, that wasn't me, that was my brother," Phantomon said mildly. "Thank you for getting rid of him, by the way. He always was rather annoying, you know. Always saying he could swing his Nanoscythe further than me. Well I guess he finally swung it too far, ha!"

"Umm… you're welcome," Agumon muttered, looking confused.

"Oh yes, where was I?" Phantomon wondered. "That's right, I'm supposed to take you to meet my master, Mordremon. Come along then."

"Wait there one minute!" Mimi cried. "We're not going to just blindly follow this thing, are we?"

But everyone else was already leaving her behind, following Phantomon down the long, torch lit hall.

"C'mon, Mimi!" Palmon called. "It'll be okay."

"We always end up somewhere dark and scary, with no idea what's going to happen." Mimi said, stubbornly. "I've had it!"

"We'll be fine, Mimi. I'm her to protect you!" Palmon reassured her friend.

"Well, that wasn't a great lot of help when there were all those other Digimon, was it?"

"Yeah, well, there's only Phantomon and Cronomon here, and I could beat them both without even digivolving," Palmon boasted.

"One day, I am going to just stay home." Mimi sighed, giving up and following behind everyone else.

The hallway, despite the burning torches that lined the walls, seemed very dank and gloomy. The bare stone walls made the place seem awfully empty, and although the torches lit the path of the children and monsters, they could never quite see right into the shadows.

And the end of the hall there was a stone arch, which led them into a smaller hall, which had stairs and doors going all over the place.

"Where do they all go?" Koushiro wondered. "There are so many different ways to go. You could get lost so easily in a maze like this."

"Oh, it's not so hard when you know where to go," Phantomon replied, "You just have to learn the way things work around here. I know this place perfectly. That door leads to the kitchens, that's the dining hall, that's the dungeons, that's the astrology tower, that's a bunch of empty rooms, and those are the guest quarters." Phantomon told them, gesturing around the room at various staircases and wooden doors.

"Well, what about that door?" Biyomon asked, pointing to a heavy, decorated door at the foot of one staircase. She was perched higher up, on a windowsill.

"Ah, now that is the place where I must take you now. That is where my master Mordremon is." Phantomon replied, with a sneaky look. "Now, be good little digimon, won't you, and you too, children, or Mordremon may not take much of a liking to you!"

_ Not that Mordremon takes a liking to anyone._ Phantomon thought, dragging open the door.

Inside, the Digidestined were treated to a very strange sight. Ranged around the room were the four digimon they had met during their trip up the mountain: Tauromon, Serpentmon, Kappamon and Banemon. In the middle of the room was a throne made of black rock. And seated in the throne was a digimon that none of them had ever seen before. It seemed human, but nobody could be sure because it was wearing a long, black cloak that completely covered its face and body. As they watched, Cronomon fluttered down to land on its shoulder.

Koushiro frowned as he opened his computer. "The Digimon Analyser on my computer doesn't have any information on this digimon at all."

"Well, very few people or digimon have ever seen me before." The digimon replied. "I'm not surprised that your computer has no recorded information about me. My name is Mordremon."

"I don't like it, whatever it is." Taichi muttered, suspiciously. "We don't know what it could have done with the other kids."

"Well, it hasn't exactly attacked us," Agumon pointed out.

"Oh yeah?" Mimi burst out "What about those other digimon? Tauromon and Banemon and Kappamon and that snake looking thing, you're saying _they_ didn't attack us?!"

"I have to admit, Mimi does seem to have a point." Yamato agreed.

"Yes, it does seem that those other digimon are working with Mordremon," said Sora, "but let's not jump to conclusions. There could be more to this than we think."

"Well said." Mordremon interrupted, rising from the throne, "You're obviously wise enough to keep an open mind. You're right, I admit there has been a bit of misunderstanding, but I'm sure we can sort it all –"

"Don't listen!" Takeru's muffled voice said, from somewhere out of sight. "Don't listen to Mordremon, she's lying!"

Yamato shrugged.

Koushiro typed.

Jyou fidgeted.

"Ha!" said Mimi.

"Oh well," said Sora.

"She?" said Taichi, looking confused.

"Yeah, she." Mordremon replied, slightly annoyed. "Believe it or not, I happen to be a girl. And I suppose I might as well show you everything then."

She strode over to a trapdoor in the floor and wrenched it open. "Alright, Phantomon, let 'em out for a bit of air."

Phantomon ducked down into the hole. There was a lot of noise down below, of clattering chains and outraged voices.

"This trapdoor leads directly to the dungeon." Cronomon explained, fluttering from Mordremon's shoulder and landing on the edge of the hole. "Phantomon is just getting our prisoners out so that they can come and see you. I believe you may know them…"

Suddenly, it all clicked.

"I was right!" Taichi shouted angrily, "You're the ones that took the other kids! I should have known. Come on, everybody, let's go get –"

"No, Tai, wait." Hikari said, climbing up from the trapdoor. Clamped to her wrist was a chain, which Phantomon was holding onto. "You see," she continued, if you fight Mordremon and the others here, now, you'll lose. You can't win here in the castle."

"That's right." Takeru agreed, scrambling up behind Hikari. "And even if had a chance, these other digimon could kill any one of us before you could reach for your digivices."

All the other children, and their digimon, all chained, slowly emerged from the trapdoor. Daisuke, Iori, Miyako and Ken, along with Gatomon, Patamon, Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon and Wormmon stood helpless, captives of this strange new digimon.

"She took out digivices." the goggle-boy muttered, hanging his head.

"Told you, didn't I," Miyako said, defiantly, "I told you we shouldn't have followed that Cronomon."

"Yeah, we heard you the first fifty times," Iori grumbled. "Will you lay off already?"

Ken stood silent at the back, like he was pretending he wasn't there. But he couldn't hide, not really.

"Don't you have anything to say, Ken?" Sora asked, looking straight at him.

"No, not really," the former Digimon Emperor said, quietly, "Just that… well… I've been the bad guy. I've made mistakes. But even the bad guys are living creatures, and the Digiworld isn't just a game. Even Mordremon has feelings. There's more than one way to win." 

Mordremon regarded him for a long moment. "Words won't break down the dungeon walls. Send them back, Phantomon."

"As you wish, master." Phantomon replied, mildly, sweeping his scythe over the group. A few gasps were heard as the air around the six suddenly spiralled upwards, and the other Digidestined were nowhere to be seen. The trapdoor slammed shut.

"Oh, you liked my little magic trick, did you?" Phantomon asked, sounding please. "Oh, it was nothing, just a little something I picked up when –"

"Excuse me, Phantomon, but I believe you have other things to do." Mordremon said firmly, sounding faintly annoyed.

"No, I don't believe I do, what do you mean?"

"You know, just… _things._" Cronomon hissed.

"I really don't think I –"

"Oh, go clean the toilets or something." Mordremon grumbled, and Phantomon hurried quickly out of the room, suddenly remembering that he _did_ have things to do.

"Now, children – and digimon – I believe we have matters to discuss. I wasn't aware that you'd be here so soon." Mordremon said.

"Well, we have a few questions for you," Taichi told her, furious. "Why are you keeping our friends in chains? Why are you doing this? What have we ever done to you?!"

"I was just getting to that," the digimon replied, glaring at Taichi. "If you'll just follow me up to the tower, maybe I can explain things a little better." 

Mordremon rose out of her seat and headed towards the door, Cronomon fluttering above her head. A few of the larger digimon scrambled up and began to follow, when Mordremon turned around and gave them one of her icy glares. "You lot are staying here." She said, in an equally cold voice. Then she turned and floated out the door.

~~~~~~

Well, thank you for reading, review if you want, thank you to ::dragonfire:: and I promise the next bit will be better. Bye!


	5. Six Stars and Six Devices

Disclaimer: Okay, you all know the drill. I'd like to be able to spare you the boredom of reading this, but unfortunately it's necessary. I don't own digimon, I do own Mordremon, the end.

Despite a weekend school trip, a soccer game, a music concert, a maths test and ff.net's 'technical difficulties', I've managed to upload another chapter and the end of an the introduction. This is the point at which (in most stories) the bulk of the Evil Plan is explained by the Bad Guy, who then shoves the Good Guys off somewhere else for a while. Right towards the end the is an Unexpected Twist, which is soon followed by the Startling Conclusion. So it is with this story, so go ahead and read of my dark and sinister Evil Plot!

_Edit 1st of June 2003: thoroughly sick and tired of prophecies, so eliminated mine completely_

Chapter 5 – six stars and six devices 

Gomamon groaned, dragging his drooping body over yet another step of the long spiral staircase. "My legs were just not made for stairs." he panted "Are we there yet?"

"Nearly." Mordremon muttered, gritting her teeth. These Digidestined could be such a nuisance. She'd known about these older six, of course, but had never expected them to show up so soon. Or to show up at all, though she should have thought of it. They were mentioned in the prophecy, after all. They shouldn't be too much of a problem, though. The important part of the prophecy, the younger children and the devices, were already in place. And yet, she couldn't help but worry about what these others could do...

"Don't worry about the children." Cronomon whispered, fluttering to land on her friend's shoulder. "Any of the digimon under your command are well able to handle them."

"Handle the digimon, yes. But the humans? They have achieved incredible things long before anyone had heard of the ones I have captured. These children are blessed with amazing power."

"But every great power has some failing. Every plan has a flaw. And speaking of plan, why are you letting them in on ours?"

"I thought they should know what they were getting thrown into." Mordremon explained, picking at the hem of her robe, "I like to give them a fighting chance."

Cronomon tilted her head and gazed at the other digimon thoughtfully. "You're not at all what you seem, you know, Darcy."

"Don't call me that!" Mordremon hissed, urgently. "Please, don't call me that. And we're here."

Mordremon opened the door at the top of the spiralling stairs to reveal a perfectly round room, and a rather large one at that. They were in a room at the top of the castle's tower. Around the walls were sixteen large windows, aligned with the sixteen points of the compass. (Yes, some people think of the compass as four or eight main points, but I prefer sixteen.) The ceiling was inky black like the sky and studded with stars. In the centre of the room was a round stone pedestal with intricate carvings upon it, and atop the table, in several depressions, sat the six D3 digivices.

The digidestined filed into the room and gazed around. A few were staring out the windows at their surroundings, and Koushiro had begun to tap at the computer already. Perhaps he was analysing the star patterns, or the carvings; maybe even playing minesweeper. You never could tell with these computer types.

Taichi, after glancing quickly around, wandered towards the pedestal to stand beside Yamato and Gabumon. One by one, the other children wandered up to stand beside him. Tai had changed since the first trip to the digital world, growing older and wiser, but he was still, without a doubt, the leader of the band. In some ways, he was even more of an influence now than he was then. With his hands in his pockets, he looked straight at the shadowy figure as he spoke.

"Okay then, great Mordremon." Taichi said, coolly. "Spill the beans. What the hell are we doing here?"

Mordremon nodded her head in approval and spread her arms wide.

"This room is the centre of my work." she began, "My entire plan revolved around the mechanisms I have at my disposal here. I began my scheming when I first realised the power that resides in this turret. It has not been changed in all the time I have spent at the castle. No matter what I have done to the rest of the castle, this tower is exactly as it was when I came here."

"We don't really need to know the history of the castle, Mordremon." Sora said, sounding slightly impatient. "Just get to the point."

"A pleasure." Mordremon nodded, hiding what might have been a smile beneath her hood. "In the digital world, digimon that die are usually reborn again, in the Primary Village. Digimon hatch from their digieggs, grow and digivolve until they eventually die, only to be born again back in the village. A circle, you see. Of course, it doesn't always happen that way, for reasons we cannot understand, but quite often it will.  
"I, for one, am sick of it. What I'm going to do is to end this cycle forever, so that the digimon can have more normal, more finite, more _real_ lifespans."

"You're going to just let the digimon die?"

"That's awful!" Mimi gasped, looking shocked. Everyone else agreed, nodding heads and sharing angry looks.

"You can't do that!" Taichi shouted, angrily. He'd lost his imposing coolness now, and was back to the old hothead. "I've met up with some sick and twisted digimon before, but none like you. You're trying to change the natural laws of the Digiworld!"

"Yes. And I have everything I need to do it right here." Mordremon replied, cold and glaring once more. "I need these, for starters," She gestured to the six digivices on the pedestal. "That was why I had to take your young friends prisoner. There was no other way. If they were killed, the digivices would also cease to exist. And besides," she added, in a voice that only Cronomon could hear, "I wouldn't want to kill anyone unless I had to."

"I guess that kind of explains things." Agumon said, thoughtfully, scratching his head, "But why do you have to take the prisoner at all? Why should you kill other digimon at all?"

"Just drop it all here, release the other children, let us go home and we can all live peacefully." Gabumon continued.

Koushiro began to point out that he didn't know if they could get back to the real world, but Mimi discreetly shut him up by kicking his knee. She smiled sweetly at him in apology, while muttering that the less Mordremon knew, the better. It was then that Koushiro realised that being a genius didn't mean you always knew best. Sometimes it was wiser to keep one's mouth shut.

Mordremon, however, missed this exchange and was silently cursing Agumon and Gabumon's words. She hated the way those goody goodies always tried to talk you out of evil schemes. As if that would really work. Someone spends a lifetime plotting and scheming to set these plots up, and then the squeaky clean little good guys come and just think they can talk you out of it. As if! A lifetime of evil was hard work, really hard word, and one had to be completely devoted. You wouldn't just throw is all away because some pansy kids and their cute little digimon come and talk about peace. But that wasn't what was making Mordremon mad.

It was the fact that it was working.

For a moment, Mordremon could see the whole plan laid out in front of her, and she was filled with doubt. How could she even think about risking the lived of so many, to fulfil her own silly wishes? How could she exploit the children like this, when they were only trying to do their job and care for this world, protecting it, which was more than she had ever done.

And worst of all - how _could_ she do this to Cronomon?

But all of Mordremon's doubts were forgotten in a second, when she saw the children looking at her thoughtful face with expressions that were almost understanding, and was filled again with cold anger. They could never begin to understand her, what made her this way and what forced her to do these terrible things, to bring death to a place that hardly knew the meaning of the word.

Never.

And when Mordremon opened her mouth to speak again, her voice was so cold that it would freeze the blood of the angriest Meramon.

"There are six stars up in the sky there," Mordremon remarked glaring around. She pointed to a ring of six stars that were clearly visible against the black of the ceiling. "This tower is magical. It reflects the positions of the stars above us. No matter what the time of day, I always know where the stars are. Soon those six stars will rotate into position above the digivices, an occurrence that is incredibly rare, and then death will finally come to the digital world, and I will be its master. I have waited all my life for this moment," she continued, and only Cronomon noticed the slight tremble in her voice, "And nothing is going to stop me now."

_ And that's a very long lifetime to wait._

"There's still time to take action." Koushiro told his friends, typing furiously on the laptop. "I think I've got the calculations right, and the stars won't be properly positioned above the digivices for about a week. Maybe a few more days. We've got plenty of time to come back, free the other digidestined and end this hideous scheme."

"Why wait?" Taichi asked. "Lets get rid of this problem right now!"

"Sounds good to me." Yamato agreed, stepping forward.

"Wait!" Sora stepped forward. "I have one more question." She looked at Mordremon curiously. "You still haven't explained _why_ you want to kill all the digimon. All the other villains we've ever fought wanted to rule, not kill. Why is it destruction with you?"

How could that human girl have seen the heart of the story so quickly? It was lucky for Mordremon that she was wearing a hood, because it would have been most unseemly to blush in front of one's enemies. Even so, the girl wasn't spot on. She didn't want to destroy, she just wanted to...

"That's all?" Mordremon asked, carefully avoiding an answer. "It doesn't matter why. The point is, I can win. And if I win, then you won't be able to come back and stop me all over again. Because you'll have to deal with a little problem of being dead."

"That's it!" Taichi exploded. "I've had enough of this. Let's get her!"

The other kids and their digimon agreed. Why wait, when they could get rid of this sick creature right now? What was Mordremon going to do? After all, she hadn't yet shown any sort of special power. As far as the digidestined were concerned, this was just one more bad guy - er, girl - that had to be stopped.

There was so much they still had to learn.

Mordremon realised what was happening when the six children began to reach for their digivices. She glanced around quickly at the solid, black stone walls of the room. the walls were almost half a metre thick, as it often was with old castles, but if the digimon went even just to champion level, there would certainly not be enough room for them. This could not happen, at any costs. Mordremon really didn't care if she was killed. She would only come back again. It was the nature of the digital world. Then she could come back and start over again. But if the castle, or even just the tower, were harmed in any way, then she would never be able to fulfil her plans. She would never be death's master. 

"There's still time for us to fight!" Agumon was saying. "Taichi, just say the word and I'll digivolve."

"You're on, buddy." Taichi agreed, holding out his digivice. But before Agumon could move, Mordremon barked a command at Cronomon.

"To the Labyrinth! Now!"

Cronomon's little magic rubber ball began to glow. There was another flash of light, and the Digidestined, and their digimon, were nowhere to be seen.

"That's them taken care of, then." Mordremon commented, going to gaze out of the south-east window at something far away on the horizon. "Cronomon, dear, go and send Tauromon down to the Labyrinth. I've got him some new friends to play with. But tell him not to get anyone killed just yet. I want everyone to have a chance to meet the digidestined."

_ And besides, _she thought, as Cronomon fluttered down the stairs, _killing them wouldn't do any good. They'd only come back._

~~~~~~

Well, there you have it. One more evil plot for the record, come to join all the millions of others on fanfiction.net. This chapter probably won't be read until at least a week after I've finished writing it, due to all these technical problems. However, that will give me plenty of time to work on the next chapter! And believe me, it will take some work.

As always, review if you feel like it, flame if you feel like it, and tell me if you think I could improve. I've only had one review since chapter 2 and that was from ::dragonfire::, who had already reviewed twice (not that I have a problem with that at all, ::dragonfire:: has been a great encouragement). So if anyone else is still reading, it would be nice to hear from you. See ya later!


	6. Into the Labyrinth

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon. Duh. It was created by Toei, butchered by Fox and screened in Australia by Cheez TV. Ende.

I thought I'd just put in a few words about the aforementioned Cheez TV, who screen about half of the anime shows shown in Australia (Pokemon, Digimon, Dragonball Z & Card Captor Sakura) and are responsible for this fic being slightly stuffed. Cheez TV began showing us series 02 at the start of this year. At the time, I was annoyed at the fact that none of the six older digidestined had much of a part to play. Just as I was forming the idea for this fic (and watching 'Genesis of Evil') they cut us off and start from the first ep of 01 again. Why? I dunno. Never will. but I hope that explains why this fic is a bit buggered. Thank you.

**Chapter 6 - Into the Labyrinth**

As they emerged from Cronomon's wormhole, the digidestined found themselves standing before a huge stone arch, staring at the sea. At their backs was the entrance to an immense stone maze, with carved walls and incredibly high walls. Biyomon and Tentomon could only just manage to hover high enough to see beyond the walls, and they reported that the maze stretched on and on, until they could just barely see something beyond it. They also informed their friends that they could not see any other lands over the sea, and Gomamon spoke to some fishes to confirm this. Even the fishes had been hard to find, and didn't seem to want to stay long, as though they shouldn't have been there. There was no choice but to enter the enormous stone maze.

"We could be lost for years in this place!" Jyou began, as they rounded the first corner.

"We'd better not." Koushiro replied, immediately. "If we don't get back to the castle within two weeks, Mordremon's plans will come into action and then where will we be?"

"There must be some way to get out of here," Taichi said, as he strode along in the lead, "so do you think you can calculate it on your laptop?"

"Not possible, I'm afraid." Koushiro apologized, falling into step next to Taichi, "Mazes are generally very unpredictable, there's no logic to their layout at all. Without a set pattern that can be worked upon, there's really nothing I can do."

"So we'll just have to take pot luck, huh?" Tai sighed. "I was hoping we could find a quicker way around this."

"I'm sorry. I really wish I could help."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Agumon dismissed Koushiro's worries with a wave of his claw.

"Yeah, you can't expect to come up with the answers to every single problem," Taichi continued, smiling, as Koushiro grinned almost guiltily.

"And besides, there are other, more urgent things to worry about now," Tentomon grumbled, "like food!"

While Taichi and Koushiro were leading the group, Sora was hanging towards the back, running her hands carefully along the stone walls. She'd noticed some seemingly abstract carvings on them here and there, and was thoughtfully trying to deduce them.

"I dunno, Biyomon." she said after a while. "There doesn't seem to be much here. Just this strange digi-code and some weird monsters."

Biyomon stared hard at a carved picture where Sora stopped. "I've seen that thing before." Biyomon pointed at one of the monsters, the apparent ruler, which was surrounded by other, smaller monsters. It had two horns on its head and an angry expression on its face.

"The thing is, in some pictures it's completely different." Sora shook her head, confused. "There are people in them, a man with a sword, and no other monsters at all. See, over here on the other wall."

"Oh, those?" Jyou asked, "I know that monster, it's the Minotaur."

"Minotaur?" said about ten voices at once.

"Yep." Jyou kept on. "An old Greek legend. The Minotaur was a monster that had a human body and a bull's head. It was unnaturally strong but very wild, so it was enclosed in a huge maze, the Labyrinth."

"Guess we've found our labyrinth." Yamato said, dryly, staring up at the huge walls.

"Yes, but what about the Minotaur?" Gabumon wondered.

"That must be Tauromon!" said Koushiro. "He fits the description. And remember how he attacked us on the mountain?"

"It was like he could barely keep his anger under control." Agumon said, thoughtfully.

"So now we're in his Labyrinth." Jyou finished, looking around at them all. "And Tauromon's in here somewhere looking to fight us."

"Humph!" Mimi tossed her hair angrily. "Well I don't like it one bit. Some monster running around in a place we could got lost in so easily, following this old legend from, like, a million years ago, and on top of that," she paused, as this was the worst crime of all, "The decor here is _atrocious!_"

"HUHHRROOAAARRRRG!!!" came a huge bellow, so close that is made everyone huddle together in fright. "You invade my homeland, irritate my master, invite yourselves along to my Labyrinth AND NOW YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT THE DECORATING!!?!"

"S-sorry," Mimi stuttered. "I was j-just saying -"

"Well, DON'T!"

"Hey, calm down, Tauromon." Tai said. "It is Tauromon, right?"

"Hrr, yes, it is." Tauromon replied, grudgingly. "Well, even if you have no manners, you seem to be pretty smart."

"Guess you don't know Taichi very well then," Yamato said, under his breath.

"Oh, shut up." Tai muttered back.

"Why don't you?"

"Please," Sora said, stepping between the two boys, "Not now. We do have other things to worry about."

"Yeah, you better be worrying!" Tauromon shouted. "There's only a wall separating me from you lot. And I know the Labyrinth like the back of my hand -"

"You don't have hands." Mimi pointed out.

"QUIET! I'll have to have you killed first." Mimi cowered as Tauromon went on. "As I was saying, I know this Labyrinth so well that I could be over where you are in five minutes."

"Gee, that's, um, fast." Gomamon said, helpfully.

"Yes, well, he could also get rid of us in ten minutes, couldn't you?" Koushiro asked.

"Something like that." Tauromon agreed. "However, my master, the great Mordremon, believes in giving people - and digimon - a fair go. She says that it wouldn't be fair on the rest of the team if I was the only one that got to play with you. So I won't be coming out to meet you face to face just yet. But don't forget - I'll be around."

Instantly, a loud screech was heard echoing around the maze. From around the corner came a huge Cockatorimon, running toward the kids as if to knock them all down.

"Oh no!" Koushiro cried. "Not again!"

They all remembered what had happened last time they were attacked by Cockatorimon. It had been on a ship in Etemon's desert, and all the kids had been captured or turned to stone, with the exception of Sora and Mimi. It was not an experience they were keen to repeat.

"Don't worry about this one!" Mimi shouted. "We know how to handle Cockatorimon, don't we, Palmon?"

"Of course! Let me at him!" Palmon replied.

(Dum de dum, digivolve, etcetera. I think we all know what happens in here. Yep, you guessed it.)

"Palmon, digivolve to... Togemon!"

Before Cockatorimon could gather enough energy to attack, Togemon knocked the breath out of him with a well aimed punch.

"How'd you like that, tough guy?" She asked, holding the bedraggled bird in the air by one foot.

Cockatorimon replied by spinning around and biting Togemon very, very hard.

"Owww!"

"Serves you right, ya big pincushion!"

"You want a pincushion, here it comes!" Togemon ran at Cockatorimon and slammed him into the wall; Togemon's spines effectively prevented the bird from moving. Cockatorimon trembled, surrounded by the sharp spikes that could easily have pierced a wing, a foot, or even his body.

"Whaddaya say now, bird brain?"

"Er... ouch?"

Togemon laughed and backed off. Cockatorimon slumped to the ground, trembling from the close encounter (far too close for his liking) with Togemon (and her spines).

"Should I finish him, Mimi?" Togemon asked of her friend.

Mimi hesitated, then shook her head. "Leave him. I don't think he'll want to bother us again."

Togemon would have done just that, if she hadn't noticed one thing. Cockatorimon, sheltered from the rest of the group by Togemon's body, was staring hard at Mimi, who had just saved him. As Togemon turned to send him off, she realizsed that his eyes were beginning to glow...

"OH NO YOU DON'T!!!" the enraged plant roared, pounding Cockatorimon into the wall. The beam that the bird had been about to fire, which would have changed Mimi to stone, shot wildly off target and brushed the top of Togemon's head, turning the orange tuft rock hard.

"I've had just about all I can take from you," Togemon whispered, wrapping one huge, gloved hand around the unfortunate bird's neck. A strangled noise escaped Cockatrimon's beak, and his tongue lolled out.

"No, stop, Togemon!" Mimi cried. "Don't hurt him, please."

"But, Mimi..."

Taichi stepped forward. "Mimi, what are you doing? That Digimon there would sooner kill you than look at you..."

"Can't see why anyone wouldn't want to look at her. Monsters just have no taste." someone muttered, to a chorus of giggles.

Taichi ignored the interruption. "...and you're just going to let him go? What's with you?"

"I just don't like seeing digimon get hurt, and knowing I could have helped them." Mimi explained, as several others shook their heads in amazement. "Don't think I'll be letting him off lightly, though." Mimi turned back to her digimon. "Togemon? Let's teach this feathered freak how to fly."

"You're on, Mimi," Togemon agreed, smiling at last. She grabbed the overgrown chook by his legs this time, and began to whirl him around above her head. When Cockatorimon had become nothing but a blur, Togemon released him, sending the unfortunate bird soaring over the confines of the Labyrinth.

"Thaaank yoooouuuuuuuu!" Cockatorimon shouted, as he shot through the air. That's what it sounded like to Mimi, anyway.

"Well, that's that taken care of," Mimi said, brightly, as Togemon shrunk back to Palmon once more. "Where to next?"

******

Dinner that night was a challenge, as there was practically nothing edible in the whole of the Labyrinth. Nothing that the digidestined found edible, anyway. They searched thoroughly while it was still daylight, but it turned out to be pretty hopeless. The sparse vegetation that grew up between cracks in the rock were mostly tough, chewy, tasteless stuff that was all that could survive in the harsh conditions.

"Grass, grass, weed, grass, thistle, grass, grass, grass." Sora commented, pulling a few pitiful strands from the ground. "How can anything survive in this place?"

"Well, Sora, Tauromon probably has no trouble eating this stuff." Koushiro reminded her. "He might be dangerous, mad and bloodthirsty, but he's also part cow, and they live on grass alone. This is probably a feast to him."

"Lucky Tauromon." Tentomon sniffed. "I'm afraid I can't quite be satisfied with a few mere bunches of grass. I'm partial to something more substantial. Chocolate pudding springs to mind... or anything cooked by your mother for that matter. Why couldn't you bring some of her cooking here with us?"

"I don't think he expected us to be stuck in a maze with no food, Tentomon." Biyomon replied, and she wandered off down another path in search of tastier morsels.

"Yeah, well, my Mum's cooking would probably make a nice break right now." he admitted, "Do you know how long it's been since breakfast?"

"We only had one teeny tiny snack stop all day," Tentomon continued. "Even then we only got fruit. And we were interrupted as well."

"By Tauromon, I know." Sora's mood darkened. "We'll have to fight him eventually, if we want to escape this place. I think he's the sort of digimon that would rather die than let us get away."

"You know, normally I'd say an attitude like that is because a digimon is afraid of being punished by its master." Koushiro said, "But Mordremon doesn't really seem the sort of digimon to do that. She told us all her plans and is making Tauromon to give us, 'a fair go'. What sort of digimon does that?"

"You're right, Mordremon is rather unusual," Sora admitted. "but her kindness might mean that we don't have to fight her the way we normally would an evil digimon."

"Mimi would probably be pleased about that." Tentomon said, sarcastically.

"Yes, that's another thing I don't understand." Koushiro nodded. "Why did Mimi let Cockatorimon go, after he tried to destroy her?"

Sora shrugged as she wrenched another blade of greenery from its home between the bricks. "Mimi's just a peaceful person, and she doesn't like the fact that digimon have to be destroyed. She'll never kill a digimon if there's a chance that it can be saved."

"That makes no sense at all." Tentomon replied, decisively. "Evil digimon have to be destroyed, whether we like it or not. Mimi's being silly."

"I don't think so." Sora argued, sitting back and staring right in front of her. "Sometimes I wish I could be more like her. Not the way she's all girly and a shopper and stuff, but how she just refuses to fight. The way she can't bear to see a digimon hurt. That's one thing I envy Mimi."

"But Sora, you're a great fighter." Koushiro protested. "Why would you want to give that up?"

Sora sighed and shook her head. "No, that's just it. Mimi sees all doesn't like fighting because she doesn't want to hurt anyone. She doesn't just care about her friends, but her enemies as well. She doesn't want anyone or anything to be hurt. Me, I just worry about whether I'm going to survive or not."

"But there's nothing wrong with that," he said, with a perplexed look.

"When we're fighting and we hurt digimon, sometimes I don't even feel guilty about the fact that I'm hurting a real, living creature." Sora explained. "I just feel like I'm doing my job, you know?"

"So?" Tentomon asked. "You are doing your job. So am I. We all are."

"I know, but it seems wrong that we don't seem to care about the fact that we're killing digimon, that... hey, look, Biyomon's back!"

"Sora, come quick!" Biyomon cried, running towards her friends. "I found some food! An apple tree and some blackberry bushes, just a few minutes away."

"Yes!" Koushiro shouted. "Come on, Tentomon, let's go and... Tentomon?"

But Tentomon was already rounding the next bend, determined to reach the food as soon as possible, as he was never happy with an empty stomach.

"Hey, Tentomon, wait!" Koushy cried, helplessly.

"Don't worry about it. You go follow him." Sora said, stifling a laugh. "Biyomon and I will go back and tell the others."

"Okay. Good. Thanks." He turned and belted off in the same direction that Tentomon disappeared.

"Come on, Bee." Sora said, with a laugh. "Let's go and get some help with the fruit picking. Dinner is served."

******

"Don't we have enough food already?"

Yamato glared at Mimi and pointed at the pile of fruit that had been collected. "Mimi, we might not find food like this anywhere else in the whole Labyrinth. We have to collect as much as we can right now."

"But I've already carried tons of food!"

Sora raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Mimi, a handful of blackberries and three apples is _not_ tons of food. It's barely enough to feed Gomamon."

"That's another thing!" Mimi cried. "How come Jyou isn't carrying any fruit.?"

Yamato and Sora both looked toward the wall of the space they had decided to use as camp. Joe was slumped on the ground with his eyes closed. He had eaten a few not-quite-ripe blackberries on the way back from the first trip, and despite drinking almost a liter of water his face was slowly turning green.

"That's different, Mimi." Yamato told her. "Jyou has indigestion. He's sick. _You_ are not. So _you_ can help the rest of us to get food. _Now."_

Palmon rounded the corner, happily juggling apples. She was still extremely pleased with her victory over Cockatorimon earlier in the day. But her happiness began to fade when she saw Mimi sitting on the ground, arms crossed with a stubborn expression on her face.

"Aw, Mimi," Palmon sighed, tossing the apples onto the growing pile. "What's wrong now? You don't really think we've got too much food here, do ya?"

Mimi, glared at Palmon with an indignant expression, but her face softened when she saw Palmon's disappointment. "Oh... I didn't mean... you don't think I really..."

"I'm just going back to get some more apples." Palmon smiled. "Ya wanna come, Mimi?"

"Yes, of course I'll come with you, Palmon." Mimi leapt up and quickly ran down the path with her digimon friend.

Yamato shook his head in amazement. "Now, how come she doesn't do what I asked? I mean, Palmon's not as commanding as I am, can she? And there's no way she could be as cool as I am."

"That's a matter of opinion," Sora muttered under her breath. Then she called out aloud. "Look, Biyomon and Agumon are back now. Tai and Izzy are coming too, with Agumon."

The kids and the digimon both carried huge loads of fruit, and even Gomamon managed to gather in a few berries. They dumped the lot on the pile before Taichi turned to look at Yamato and Sora.

"Mimi and Palmon ripped past us a minute ago." He said, with some amazement in his voice. "How'd you convince Mimi to go and get even _more_ fruit?"

"You can thank Palmon for that." Sora grinned. Then she frowned at Biyomon. "Biyo, you've got blackberry prickles stuck in your feathers, silly!" she moved to pick the thorns out of the bird's plumage, but Biyomon jumped out of the way and dumped her fruit with the rest before taking to the air.

"Just a minute, Sora!" she called. "I'll be back in a sec."

Biyomon flew up until she reached the top of the wall, hovered there for a moment, then disappeared on the other side. The others heard her cry of discovery, the sound of a quick scuffle, a few raised voices and then silence. Then Biyomon reappeared carrying a guilty looking Tentomon in her claws.

"I was just having a quick snack." Tentomon whined.

"Hey, we're hungry too, you know." Biyomon frowned as she dropped Tentomon on the ground, _away_ from the pile of fruit. Then she turned and started to preen her feathers, getting rid of the blackberry thorns.

"It was just a few scraps." Tentomon muttered to himself, amid gales of laughter.

"Um, if I may interrupt," Gomamon interrupted, "don't you think we should do something about Jyou?"

It was true, Jyou wasn't looking to good. His eyes were closed, his glasses were slipping down and he was definitely looking green.

"I don't know if there's really anything we can do," Taichi said, with a helpless shrug. "I mean, he's supposed to be the doctor. What can we do?"

"I have an idea." Gabumon volunteered. "Once, when I was sick, Frigimon had some herbs that he used to cure me. Maybe if we found some of that stuff, we could help Frigimon."

"It's a good idea, Gabumon," Yamato said, cautiously, "but how are we supposed to know which herbs are the right ones? Or if they even grow around here? We never know what we're going to find in the Labyrinth."

"Palmon would know." said Agumon.

"Yeah, well, Palmon isn't here right now, she went off to find fruit with Mimi." Taichi replied. "Maybe if someone went to tell her-"

"I'll go!" Tentomon shouted. "Back in a jiffy! you can count on me!"

"Why on earth would he do that?" Biyomon wondered, as Tentomon buzzed away at top speed.

"Maybe he wants to make up for nicking that food." Sora suggested.

"Maybe he just likes Palmon," Gomamon snickered.

"Nope." Koushiro shook his head. "He just wants more to eat."

"Yeah, that'd be right," Yamato said, dryly. "Tentomon's just a stomach with wings."

For the next few minutes, the various digidestined pottered about their makeshift campsite. There were always things that had to be done, like setting up a fire, checking supplies, making sure Jyou didn't throw up, and just general tidying up. Koushiro was trying to analyze their position and the digimon they'd seen. (Although once, when strolling past, Gabumon glanced at the screen and thought that he'd never seen a digimon that looked so much like Donkey Kong.) Generally, though, they were very busy and took a while to notice Mimi, Palmon and Tentomon running full pelt towards them.

"I got a few things for Jyou." Palmon dropped a few twisted plants on the ground in front of the sickening boy. "They're not exactly the right ones, but they should do the trick, anyway."

"But there's more important things to tell you," Mimi announced, breathlessly. "While Palmon and I were getting the fruit, we heard Tauromon behind a wall, and he was talking to someone!"

"Really?" Taichi asked, staring at her. "What did he say? Who was he talking to?"

"I think it was some other digimon." Mimi replied. "He was telling them to attack us, basically. It sounded like there were quite a few of them. I can't be sure exactly how many, though."

"Doesn't really matter." Tai said, looking around. "The point is that we're going to be having some visitors very soon. And they're not just going to be looking for a free meal."

As he spoke, several of the digimon, whose hearing was far sharper than that of the humans, noticed a high pitched buzzing sound far in the distance.

"Um, Tai?" Agumon tugged on the leader's jacket. "I think there's someone coming..."

"Yeah, I know that, Agumon." Tai replied, patiently. "That's why we have to figure out what to do. Now why don't you just go off while I try to think of a plan."

"No, that's not what he meant." Gabumon insisted. "We can hear them."

"Yes, Mimi heard them too, talking to Tauromon." Yamato nodded, in the same tone as Taichi.

Biyomon shook her head. "They just don't get it." she muttered to Agumon and Gabumon.

"If only they'd listen." Tentomon sighed. "They're insect digimon, a whole swarm of them. We have to be ready to meet them now."

"Well, if the humans aren't ready, then at least we can be." Agumon said. He looked back for a moment. Palmon wouldn't be a help, she couldn't hear as well as the rest of the digimon could, being a plant. And Gomamon was too busy worrying about Joe to worry about the insects as well.

"Looks like it's up to us this time, gang." Agumon nodded at his pals. "We'll just have to be ready to digivolve as soon as these insect digimon arrive.

"You got it." Biyomon nodded.

"We'll be ready." Gabumon had a determined look on his face.

"No digimon is going to take us by surprise." Tentomon agreed.

Just then, a swarm of twenty or thirty Roachmon crawled over the walls and began attacking the digidestined.

The humans never figured out why Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon and Tentomon were so embarrassed by the sudden ambush. Really, how were the four of them to know that the Roachmon were going to attack at that precise moment?

Fortunately, the digimon recovered from the sudden shock and digivolved, although they were rather flustered when they finally got around to attacking. The surprise attack, the digimon's delay and size of the swarm had already given the Roachmon a distinct advantage. They had spread out through the campsite and were openly attacking humans as well as their digimon companions. Gomamon digivolved belatedly and fought fiercely to protect Jyou, who, despite the herbs, still wasn't feeling too well. Mimi, horrified and disgusted by the invasion of insects, was unable to speak and was slowly backing away. Three Roachmon, not to be cheated of a victim, landed in front of her with ugly leers on their faces.

"Hey, what's up, kid?" the first one smirked.

"I don't think she likes roaches." another sniggered.

"Maybe we'll just have to teach her how friendly we are," the third suggested, with an ugly smile. "I'm sure she can learn to like us."

All three leapt to grab Mimi, and one managed to get a handful of her hair. Mimi spun around and threw the bug to the ground, screaming. And without a backwards glance at her friends, Mimi turned and ran, deeper and deeper into the Labyrinth, as fast as she could.

"Mimi! Wait!" Palmon left off fighting, and tried to follow her friend down the twisting paths, but there was no way she could keep up with Mimi. Palmon hesitated. She wanted to help the others fight the Roachmon, but there was nothing she couldn't digivolve without Mimi. She caught sight of the Roachmon that had scared Mimi away, and suddenly knew what to do. She walked up to the three digimon, who were still laughing, and cut their sniggers short by slapping each one of them. Very hard.

Leaving the three bugs rubbing their heads, Palmon set off into the labyrinth. If she couldn't keep up with Mimi, she could at least search for her. She had to stick up for her friend.

******

Mimi ran through the Labyrinth, taking no notice of her surroundings at all. She followed the twists and turns of the maze as best she could, and only stopped when she found she could run no farther. The dejected girl slumped against a wall, feeling exhausted, scared and ashamed. She thought she'd grown wiser in the years since the first digimon adventure, but it seemed that she was wrong. The Mimi that had run from those Roachmon was the same fearful, tentative, bug-fearing girl who had run from Centaurumon in the temple, who had complained every day of the journey, the Mimi who refused to fight. Mimi clenched her teeth and closed her eyes, but she couldn't stop the tears. Time hadn't changed her at all. Mimi was still girly, still afraid, still complaining. And she was still running away.

Mimi's thoughts were interrupted by a high, shrill chirping, and Mimi finally looked up to take note of her surroundings. She seemed to be in a very old part of the Labyrinth, or at least a very neglected part. The walls were covered in a thick coat of ivy, and the ground was littered with pieces of rock that had broken off the walls. Mimi sniffed, wiped her eyes and began digging through the tangled vines to find the source of the sound. And, ripping a thick clump of ivy away, she found herself staring at a tiny bird, no bigger than her own two hands, with beautiful, shimmering blue-green feathers. Mimi quickly pulled away the last few vines that had trapped the tiny creature. She gently picked the remaining leaves and twigs out of the bird's feathers, then slowly and carefully lifted it from its prison in the ivy.

"Thank you for helping me." the little one said, in a voice so quiet Mimi could barely hear it. "I'm Quetzalmon."

"Oh, you poor thing." Mimi's face melted into an expression of pity as she stared at Quetzalmon. "How long have you been trapped in there?"

"Oh, I don't know." Quetzalmon shook its small head sadly. "Quite a while, I think."

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"It's not a whole lot of fun," Quetzalmon admitted, "but it's better than being caught by Tauromon."

Mimi's heart sank at the mention of Tauromon. There was no-where she could run that he wouldn't be able to find her. She hated fighting, but there didn't seem to be any other way out with Tauromon on the loose. And now she didn't even know where her friends were. Mimi collapsed back into the ivy, resting against the wall hidden deep beneath it. What was she going to do?

Quetzalmon could sense his new friend's discomfort. He hopped down next to where she was sitting and looked out at the sky above them. "It's getting really dark out there," the bird commented, breaking the silence. "Why don't we both get to sleep, and I can help you find your way tomorrow?"

Mimi smiled at Quetzalmon and picked him up again. "Yes, that does sound like a good idea." Mimi agreed. So the girl and the bird nestled into the ivy, together in the harsh cold of a night in the Labyrinth.

~~~~~~

The Mimi I've shown in this chapter is, without a doubt, the Mimi of series 01 and not of 02. However, I've always thought that in 02, Mimi's old ways were only held at bay because Meems knew she didn't have to fight anymore. I also thought that if Mimi ever had to go on an all-out mission again, those old fears would resurface. So that's what I've tried to portray in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and stay tuned for the next. Later!


	7. Jealousy is not a myth

Disclaimer: You may have noticed by now, but I don't actually own digimon. If you didn't know that, you are an idiot. If you don't know what digimon is, then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HER

**Chapter 7 - Jealousy is not a myth**

"Mimi?"

As the warm morning sunlight filtered through the cover of ivy, Mimi stirred and slowly began to wake. It was so hard to get up in the mornings sometimes. Her eyes felt like they were glued shut, and moving her arms seemed harder than climbing a mountain holding a lead weight in one hand and a week's worth of shopping in the other. Finally, Mimi lifted her head and opened her eyes to see Palmon looking at her with a concerned expression on her face.

"Mimi, you're awake!" Palmon exclaimed, smiling.

"Uh... yeah." Mimi replied, with her usual intelligence and wisdom. 

"I was looking for you all night, Mimi, and I didn't know where you were and I ran off when the others were still fighting the Roachmon so now I've got lost so I don't actually know where we are but it really doesn't matter because I found you!" Palmon finished triumphantly. "And who's that?"

"Oh, this is, um..." Mimi looked down at the sleeping bird in her lap. She really wasn't a morning person. "Oh yeah, this is Quetzalmon! Isn't he cute?"

As she was speaking, Quetzalmon himself ruffled his feathers and woke up. He squawked in surprise when he saw Palmon staring and fluttered backwards, getting himself tangled in the ivy again.

"Quetzalmon!" Mimi cried. She quickly untangled the little bird from the thick vines and turned back to Palmon, who was now wearing a rather confused expression on her face.

"What are you?" Quetzalmon demanded, glaring at Palmon.

"I'm Palmon, Mimi's digimon partner." Palmon replied, trying to cover her confusion with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Quetzalmon."

Quetzalmon ignored Palmon and turned to Mimi. "You didn't tell me you had a digimon."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you last night, Quetzalmon." Mimi said, in a tone that made Palmon ever so slightly suspicious. "I was so tired from running, and so..." Mimi blushed, remembering how she had run from the Roachmon the day before. "Anyway, the point is that you get to meet Palmon now. I love her hair, don't you?"

Palmon smiled at Mimi's comment, but her smile soon disappeared when Quetzalmon leaned forward to look at the flower atop her head, then sneezed and fluttered backwards with ruffled feathers and a frown on his face.

"Don't like flowers." he announced, stubbornly.

Mimi sighed and looked helplessly at Palmon. Palmon, however, was busy glaring at Quetzalmon.

"Is that all you have to say?" Palmon demanded, angrily, towering over the little bird. "That you don't like flowers? I though digimon were usually _nice_ when they met someone new. _Polite _digimon with _manners_, anyway."

"Palmon!" Mimi said, shocked and angry. "I'm ashamed of you. How can you speak of manners to Quetzalmon, when you're being so unbearably rude yourself? He's only a young digimon, and there you go scaring the poor dear out of his wits." Quetzalmon had flown up to Mimi's shoulder and was glaring at Palmon from the safety of her (very pink) hair.

"But... I didn't... he just..." Palmon was speechless. That little puffball just came out and announced that he didn't like flowers, which obviously meant he didn't like Palmon, so it was perfectly reasonable for her to be upset, and the Mimi went and blamed her. What _had_ she done wrong?

"Palmon, I want you to apologize to Quetzalmon right now." Mimi said, firmly.

"But he said -"

"He just said that he doesn't like flowers. There's no rule that says he has to, you know. And then you go and scare him like that, just because you can't accept the fact that some people - and digimon - are allergic to them. Which was completely unreasonable. So apologize."

Palmon was about to protest again, because she could see what Mimi couldn't - the smug look on Quetzalmon's face. But then she saw the look on Mimi's face, the look that had brought humans and digimon alike to their knees. If looks could kill, Palmon would be one dead daisy. She lowered her eyes, and scuffed at the dirt.

"Sorry, Quetzalmon." Palmon said, sullenly, still staring at her feet - roots - as though they were absolutely fascinating.

"Well, I suppose that's something." Mimi said, briskly. "Now, I believe we should try to find a way out of here sometime now."

"I can help you find a way out." Quetzalmon volunteered, with a shy sort of look at Mimi. He fluttered back into the air and pointed down the worn path.

"Thank you, Quetzalmon." Mimi smiled, gratefully. "Isn't he cute, Palmon?"

Palmon, however, didn't really care how cute Quetzalmon was. She was too busy thinking about Quetzalmon, and not just about his manners. She was thinking about how Quetzalmon had spoken to Mimi. How he seemed to adore her so much. And how Mimi seemed to like him just as much.

Palmon was in a dark mood as she trudged down the path behind Mimi and the fluttering Quetzalmon. She didn't realize it just then, but she was just feeling the first few twinges of jealousy.

******

The other digidestined searched for Mimi and Palmon long into the night, until they finally had to give in to their weariness and sleep. Everyone was worn out after the battle with the Roachmon, who dumped their various bits of junk all over the camp, completely destroying all the food they had worked so hard to gather. No one had really minded too much, though, (except Tentomon, of course) as they were all far more concerned with finding Mimi. Sora had noticed Palmon running away while she was wrestling with one of the roaches (not an easy task once they start throwing fridges at you), and yelled out quickly to warn the others. The battle that followed was short but fierce, as the digidestined tried to end it so that could search for Mimi. Even Joe helped, as the need to find Mimi cured him in a way that the herbs could never do. But despite the intense fighting, the quick victory and the long search, no-one could find a trace of either Mimi or her digimon.

"This is hopeless!" Yamato shouted, kicking a nearby microwave in his anger. "We'll never find Mimi in this place, it's enormous!"

The other digidestined nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything. Yamato could sometimes get dangerous when he was in this sort of mood. Taichi would always annoy him when he was acting like this, and it would usually end in a fight.

Except that Tai was still asleep. Apparently eight thirty in the morning was still too early, even when a friend was in danger.

Yamato gritted his teeth and tried to ignore Tai's rather loud snores. "How could she just run away like that? Right in the middle of the battle, she just quits. Just because they're Roachmon, she gives up. How _could_ she?"

"Well, really," Jyou mumbled, nervously, "you can't blame Mimi for being scared, can you? I mean she's always been kinda like that and..."

Yamato silenced him with an icy glare. "Well, a digidestined has to learn to cope with fear. We all have, and if we are going to continue to rely on Mimi, then she will have to learn to as well."

Even Koushiro, who was inspecting some of the electrical appliances the Roachmon had dumped with them, looked up at the coldness of Yamato's voice. Total silence enveloped the digidestined (except for Tai, who continued to snore). They didn't want to believe, they couldn't believe what he'd said. They knew or at least hoped, that he didn't really mean it. That Mimi couldn't take it. That she didn't deserve to be a digidestined.

Yamato himself could hardly believe what he had said. Did he really mean that? That Mimi wasn't good enough? Sure she was all girly, and complained a lot, but did that really mean..?

He turned away. He knew that the others were looking at him. Knew that they didn't believe him. And knew that they disapproved of him saying such things. No digidestined should say such things about another. No matter what they thought.

Suddenly he was angry again. Why should they judge _him_, anyway? He'd just said what he thought. What was so bad about that? And _why_ did Mimi have to run away?

Angry and confused, Yamato was momentarily lost. He had to _do_ something, _hit _something, he had to get rid of the anger growing inside him. He noticed Tai, curled up in the midst of the junk, still snoring, and felt a surge of anger so strong he hardly knew what he was doing as he walked up to Tai and kicked him as hard as he knew how.

Taichi leap into the air and tumbled down the pile of junk to land on the ground with a thud. Yamato turned around to see the others staring at him, open mouthed. He felt his face burning with shame now, and his anger was gone. He felt drained, tired and dejected, until Gabumon came up and looked at him.

"Yamato," the blue digimon said, "it's okay to be angry, you know. But you don't have to take it out on Tai."

"Shut up, Gabumon." his friend muttered, halfheartedly.

"I know you're angry at Mimi, and I know that's just because you're worried, but can you please just calm down and think? You can't help her if -"

"I said, shut _up!"_

"_Please,_" Gabumon pleaded. "We need you."

He glanced at his digimon, about to make another scathing remark, but stopped when he saw the look on Gabumon's face. Because underneath all his anger and resentment, all shame for the mistakes he had just made in the space of five minutes, he knew that Gabumon was right. He was worried about Mimi, just as he would be worried about any of the others if they went missing. And worrying confused him, and confusion angered him, until he ended up in such a mess that he lashed out and hurt the people he most wanted to help.

"Mimi may be silly sometimes," Gabumon went on, "But it's really no worse that what you're doing now. You're both upset by what is happening, but you have different ways of showing it."

"I know, Gabumon." Yamato said, heavily. "I'm sorry." He looked down at the others who were helping Tai to his feet down at the foot of the junk pile. "I'm sorry, everyone, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean what I said about Mimi. And especially to you, Tai. Sorry."

"Sorry for what, Matt?" Tai asked. "I just fell out of bed, that's all. Not that I had a bed, but I fell down in my sleep, anyway. It's not your fault."

The blonde opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself. If Tai didn't remember in his sleepiness, then he certainly wasn't going to remind him. Some things are better left alone.

But as Yamato made his way down to the others while Tai outlined a plan, Sora sidled up next to him with an unreadable look on her face.

"When I saw Tai was still half asleep, I told him he rolled over in his sleep and fell." Sora muttered under her breath. "If you don't tell him, he won't remember."

"Thank you." he replied.

"No problem. Just don't expect me to cover up for you next time."

And she left him to wonder when next time would be - and why she wouldn't cover for him then.

If Tai noticed that his frined was rather subdued that day, he put it down to lack of sleep. Searching for Mimi had worn them all out, and not everyone could be a morning person like Tai was.

"Now we all agree that we have to find Mimi and Palmon as soon as possible," Tai began.

"Duh." someone muttered. Tai chose to ignore it.

"We also need to find a way out of the Labyrinth, and quickly. We can't all roam this maze together, that will take too long. So we will definitely have to split up. What we need to decide is whether we split into two, or whether we all go separately."

"To be honest, I'm not too keen on running around the labyrinth on my own." Jyou admitted, sheepishly. "I've never been a brave guy like Tai, I've never tried to be and I never will be. But... I can almost understand why Mimi ran away." he shuddered "Although I wouldn't want to be her right now."

"I wouldn't want to be her, ever." The next little comment was met with some stifled laughter.

"I'll be with you the whole time," Gomamon piped up. "You won't be alone. Just like Mimi won't be alone with Palmon. We'd be fine."

"There's another thing to think about." Sora said. "Once we find Mimi, or the way out, how will we let everyone else know if we're split up?"

"I suppose the digimon could send a signal of some sort." Koushiro volunteered. Tentomon sent a jolt of his Super Shocker into the air to demonstrate, clumsily zapping his partner in the process. "They'd have to watch where they're aiming, of course." the charred Koushiro said with a completely straight face."

"Sounds good to me," said Taichi, with a laugh.

"The twists and turns of the maze would make it hard to follow, though." Yamato frowned. "What we really need is for the one who finds the way out to go back into the maze and search for the others."

"And running the risk of losing their way again." Tai dismissed the idea quickly.

"Well, Tai, if you found the way out, would you just sit there and wait for everyone else?" Agumon asked. There were a few snickers at the look on Tai's face.

"Just because it's exactly what I'd do, doesn't mean it's right." Tai said, through his teeth. "Jyou, is there anything more from the legend of the Minotaur that could help us?"

"Hmm, let me think." Jyou turned to the wall, running his fingers over the strange carvings, as though looking to them for inspiration. "Ah, here we are." He said at last. Several others crowded round for a look.

It was a large relief carving, with an aerial view of a great maze. In the center of the maze stood a figure which was definitely the Minotaur, or Tauromon to them. Towards the bottom right hand corner was another figure, this time of a human. He was holding a sword, and behind him a thin line snaked through the maze, marking the path he had taken from the entrance.

"We already know about the Minotaur being imprisoned in the Labyrinth because of its uncontrollable wild instincts." Jyou began.

"Well, we know where Tauromon got it." Gomamon said.

"Yep. Well, this didn't quite solve the problem. Minos, who the monster was named after, was the ruler of the area. He found that casting the Minotaur into the maze didn't quite solve the problem. There wasn't much food to be found there, so Minos created laws to provide the Minotaur with adequate amounts of food. Every few years, his people send children as sacrifices to the Minotaur to convince him to stay in the Labyrinth and not go searching elsewhere for food."

"F-food?" several others were starting to pale. "You mean he... he ate..."

"Uh huh." Jyou nodded grimly. "The Minotaur was a cannibal of sorts. Every few years, groups of children would be cast into the maze for him to eat."

"Groups of children like us, you mean." Sora said, too quietly.

Jyou sat down, hard, making his glasses fly of. "I never thought of that." he whispered, turning dead white. "you don't really think Mordremon meant us to -"

"No." Tai cut him off. "Mordremon did say she wanted us to have a fair go. Having us eaten by the first monster we meet isn't exactly fair, is it?"

"And even if Tauromon did decide you were a nice change from grass, you've still got us digimon to protect you!" Agumon smiled, triumphantly.

"It's nice to know that, I'll admit." Tai rubbed Agumon's head affectionately. "although I'd hope that we wouldn't need protection from a danger like..." Even the straightforward Tai had to stop at the thought of such a gruesome death.

"People can't have just let this go on, can they?" Koushiro asked, returning to Jyou's story. "You'd think they'd have something to say about children being... sacrificed."

"I don't know, humans are rather strange at times." Tentomon muttered.

"Strange or not, we don't allow that sort of cruelty." Sora replied, with an angry gleam in her eye. "they did do something about it, didn't they, Jyou?"

"Absolutely." Joe agreed, pointing to the man with the sword in the carving. "This man here is Theseus. He was horrified by such cruelty as well, so he set off into the Labyrinth to slay the Minotaur."

"But how did he find the Minotaur _and_ manage to get out of there?" Gabumon wondered. "If the Labyrinth is so big and confusing that this monster could be held captive there, how could Theseus have a chance?"

"That's what I wanted to show you," Jyou straightened his glasses and indicated the line leading from Theseus back to the entrance of the maze. "Theseus carried with him a ball of string. He tied one end at the entrance and let it unravel as he went on through the maze. Once he had killed the monster, he simply followed the string back to the entrance, and he was a hero!"

There were smiles all around. Here was the answer to their problem. Sort of, anyway. It wasn't a sure fire way to get everyone out safely, but it would help. It would definitely help.

"We're agreed then." Tai announced at the cross point where Mimi and Palmon had last been seen. "If anyone finds Mimi and Palmon, then travel with them and find out if they've learned anything. If you find the way out of this place to the other side, then you're to try to gather a little food from outside the maze and then come back in to search for others, marking your way so that you can find your way back out. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I do, actually." Jyou's hand shot up in the air.

Tai groaned. "Jyou, you were the one that cam up with this plan. What questions could you possibly have?"

"What if we run into trouble? You know, a fight or something."

"Have Gomamon send up a signal and someone's sure to see it, or at least hear it."

"Besides, fights aren't really all that hard to notice." Sora agreed, putting that problem out of the way."

Jyou mumbled something else, but just about everyone else was ready to go.

"Not too keen on traveling alone, eh?" Gomamon asked, his usual chirpy self.

"No, I guess not."

"C'mon, Jyou." Gomamon urged. "Just think of all the others and how they're going by themselves too."

Jyou just grunted.

"Think of back home. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner you can get back to school!"

Jyou sighed and stared at the wall.

"Think of the other kids trapped in Mordremon's castle."

Jyou kicked a nearby stone moodily.

"Think of Mimi, then."

Jyou straightened up so fast that his glasses fell off again. Gomamon chuckled to himself as the boy scrambled around blindly in the dirt.

"Okay, I'm ready to go now!" he said, looking flustered.

"We'll see you later then." Tai shouted, heading off in a different direction. Everybody else followed his action and took a different path, and suddenly Jyou was alone.

"Come on then, Gomamon. We have to find Mimi, and get us all out of this place." he turned and strode purposefully away down the last pathway.

"And Palmon." Gomamon reminded him.

"Who?" Jyou asked, distractedly.

"Palmon. Mimi's digimon. You know, green, flowery kinda girl."

"Oh. Yeah. Palmon too."

******

Mimi, Palmon and the newcomer Quetzalmon were not having the best day ever. After hours of struggling around the labyrinth at Quetzalmon's direction, the girls were tired, frustrated, hungry and, in Palmon's case, extremely doubtful about the bird's navigating skills.

For example, Quetzalmon had given them no warning at all about the muddy waterway that they were suddenly plunged into when they rounded a certain bend. Palmon thought it might have been nice to know it was there, especially when she discovered that the sharp-fanged fish in the little stream were vegetarians and found the flowery one was a rather tasty treat, considering they usually have to live on water weeds. Mimi, although rather annoyed at getting mud on her clothes, seemed completely ignorant of the fact that while the pair were floundering around getting soaked, Quetzalmon was high and dry in the air and didn't offer so much as a word of advice.

After building a fire of sorts (another of the Quetzal's talents) Mimi dried off and Palmon nursed her many fish bites. She'd found the rest of the day's travel extremely uncomfortable, despite Mimi's reassurances that she'd feel better after a good night's sleep. Somehow Palmon found it hard to get any comfort from Mimi's words when Quetzalmon was nestled in that pink hair.

"Sometimes I think he does it just to annoy me." Palmon muttered to herself as she plucked another giant mushroom from a cluster in a corner. One of the few useful things the feathered one had done was to find a section of the maze that was littered with mushrooms and toadstools for the trio to eat. Palmon immediately set to work using her skills, separating the edible mushrooms from the poisonous - after Mimi had finished praising Quetzalmon for finding them in the first place.

Still, Palmon had to admit she was enjoying the foraging for food. She popped a smallish mushroom in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Not a terribly strong flavour, but she could jazz it up with some of the basil and rosemary growing in a different corner. Boil up some of the water that had collected in that hollow over there. Bung the mushrooms in with the herbs, stew them for a bit, and they'd have a feast fit for Azulongmon. She'd never mentioned it before, but Palmon quite liked cooking.

"Palmon, this is delicious!" Mimi exclaimed, as she tried one of Palmon's mushrooms. "I never knew you liked cooking."

"You see, when I first came to your world, I saw your mother cooking, and it seemed like loads of fun." Palmon explained. "When I got back here, I thought I'd give it a go. After I experimented for a while and had some lessons with Digitamamon, I pretty much figured out how to make a meal out of anything."

"A totally vegetarian meal, of course." Mimi reminded her.

"Of course." Palmon agreed, with a smile.

Quetzalmon was eyeing his plate suspiciously, poking at the mushrooms with his claws as if he were going to find a nasty surprise waiting for him underneath.

_ Yeah, that'd be right,_ Palmon thought. _won't touch a thing, just because I cooked it. I'll bet if Mimi had made it, that picky bird brain would have eaten the lot in a gulp and come back for three more helpings._

"Please, Quetzalmon, you really should try some." Mimi coaxed the stubborn little bird. "Palmon's a really great cook, it's delicious."

"I always just had the mushrooms on their own," Quetzalmon answered, cautiously. "not with all this other funny stuff."

Palmon was suddenly hit by a confusion of emotions. She was swelling with pride at Mimi's praise, and yet indignant of Quetzalmon's reluctance to trust her. She looked down at the pile of mushrooms on her plate, the special recipe she had made up just for tonight. Just for the three of them. Suddenly the delicious smell didn't seem so wonderful. Palmon couldn't eat a bite. It just didn't matter.

"Why won't you try it, Quetzalmon?" Palmon asked, looking up suddenly. "Just because it's different? Or because I made it? You don't seem to like anything at all about me, not even the fantastic food I made for you."

"Palmon, I never meant -" Quetzalmon tried to apologize, but Palmon was gaining momentum and becoming almost unstoppable.

"I'll bet it would have been different if Mimi had cooked this lot up, wouldn't it? You love her, and yet you're not even gracious enough to appreciate when I've done you a favour. You're an ungrateful little feather-brained fool, Quetzalmon, and if you don't care about me, then you might as well stay with Mimi and the two of you can leave me here. But I won't sit around and be treated like this!"

And with that, Palmon wheeled around and marched off into the maze, which was full of lengthening shadows as the sun sank lower and lower.

"Palmon, please, wait for me!" Mimi cried. She turned to Quetzalmon, who was staring at her with sadness and confusion in his eyes.

"I didn't mean it." he murmured, staring at the ground.

"I know." Mimi said, trying to comfort him. "Can you please stay here while I go and find Palmon? She shouldn't be out in the Labyrinth on her own, not with night coming on."

Quetzalmon nodded unhappily and watched Mimi dashing off into the darkness after Palmon. What had he done wrong? It was never meant to be like this.

******

"Palmon! Please, come back, Palmon." Mimi sank to her knees on the ground next to the sulking sprout. Palmon sat with her arms (leaves) wrapped around her legs (roots) and stared off into space, not even turning to look at Mimi, who seemed just slightly exhausted from her dash through the maze.

"What have I done wrong, Palmon?" Mimi pleaded. "I don't want you to leave me."

"Why?" Palmon asked, loftily, still refusing to look at the panting girl. "You seem quite happy with that Quetzalmon. What would you want a little weed like me for?"

"Palmon, it's nothing like that and you know it."

"All I _know_ is that Quetzalmon, who you rescued from some ivy, has suddenly taken center stage while I, who came after you when you ran away, am getting pushed aside. Excuse me for being annoyed."

"Quetzalmon is just grateful. Can't you handle that?"

"If he's so grateful and nice to you, then why can't he show just a tiny bit of respect for me as well?" The calmness was gone from Palmon's voice now, and every word trembled. "Ever since I found the two of you this morning he's been rude towards me, and yet he adores you. First thing he ever said to me was that he didn't like flowers. That's just like saying he doesn't like me! And then he leads me through that water, where I nearly got eaten alive, and after all that he decided he didn't want to eat the food I cooked you. Grateful or not, he just can't do that."

"Quetzalmon doesn't mean anything, I know it." Mimi's voice was trembling now, too. "He can't help it if flowers make him sneeze, I got wet in that water too, by the way, and the poor thing's lived in this Labyrinth all his life and has probably never seen a cooked meal before tonight. Give him a break."

"Oh, and by the way, he's taken quite a liking to you. Compared to the way he treats me like scum."

"Well, you haven't exactly been nice to him, either! He's a fantastic little digimon, and all you do is bag him."

"You see?" Palmon sighed. "All you can see is the good in him. He's... I don't know, enchanted you with his cuteness. You may as well keep him for a traveling buddy. I know I can't compete with a feathered beanbag."

Mimi shook her head. Sometimes Palmon could be as stubborn as her human friend. As stubborn as Quetzalmon even.

"Palmon, I don't know why you're jealous of Quetzalmon," Mimi said, standing up. "but you can't just run away like this. Like it or not, you are digidestined, just as I am, and you can't escape that. I'll see you later."

And with that, Mimi turned and walked away. For the first time during the whole conversation, Palmon turned around and looked back. Mimi was right, she knew it. Too right. Palmon was jealous of Quetzalmon, and the jealousy was like some flame burning away inside her. But she was so sure that there was another side of Quetzalmon that Mimi just wouldn't see. Oh, what had she done? Everything was wrong. Palmon lay down on the ground and tried to sleep, but every time she did she saw Quetzalmon, flying above Mimi's head, perched on Mimi's shoulder, or nestled happily in Mimi's arms.

If only Palmon had run back after Mimi, she would have seen another sight that the pink haired girl watched silently. Quetzalmon was asleep by the fire, which was beginning to dwindle. The little bird lay flat on his back, with beak, claws and a bulging stomach sticking right up in the air, and smudges of food on his snoring face.

There was not a single mushroom left.

~~~~~~

::whistles:: Well, that chapter was a surprise, even for me! A jealous Palmon, an angry/worried Yamato, and an almost profound statement from Mimi. Sometimes I think I get just a bit carried away... And by the way, everything Joe said about the Minotaur is true. Let it never be said that I don't do my research. Next chapter will be here at the scheduled time, one week from now. And please remember, R&R is not just my initials.


	8. The Heart of the Maze

Disclaimer: La la la, I think you all know this by now. How many times do I have to say it? I. Don't. Own. Digimon. Ta dah!

And here we are in another chapter. Will Palmon's envy ruin her friendship with Mimi, her hopes of leaving the Labyrinth alive and her hair? Will the rest of the digidestined escape the maze in time to save the digital world from Mordremon's hideous scheme? Is there any point to these ridiculous notes I insist on putting at the start of each chapter?

Probably not.

**Chapter 8 - The heart of the maze**

After an uneventful night, Taichi and Agumon awoke with very empty stomachs. Not that they were complaining or anything, no way, it was just... well... a little uncomfortable traveling on an empty stomach. They wandered aimlessly through the maze, Tai occasionally kicking a stone into the air and bouncing it off his head. He eventually made a bit of a game of this (things were getting just a little bit boring) bouncing the rocks of the walls, his feet, shoulders, head - and also Agumon's feet, shoulders and head - entertaining both himself and his digimon as they wandered onwards.

"Ouch!" Agumon exclaimed, rubbing his tail where a particularly sharp rock had hit it. "Maybe we should give the games a rest for a while.

"Yeah, alright." Tai agreed, reluctantly. He knew it was ungrateful, when the others could be in danger, but he was finding this maze business a little slow - even boring. This was the second day he and Agumon had been on their own, and not a single exciting thing had happened. Maybe he was safer, but he'd rather have the exhilarating rush of a battle.

Agumon gave a whimpering groan and sunk to the ground, clutching his stomach. Tai felt a sudden guilty pang. This was also the second day they'd gone without decent food. While he was dreaming of battles, Agumon was starving.

And everyone knows that you can't digivolve on an empty stomach.

"I'm sorry, Agumon." Tai said, crouching down beside his friend, "I'd forgotten all about food. But I really don't know what we can do about it, do you? We haven't seen any plant life for hours..."

"I do have one idea." Agumon said, slowly, "But I don't think you'll like it."

"What's that?" Tai grimaced at the thought of what it could be.

"Pepper breath!" Agumon's fireball blasted one of the paving stones away to reveal a large patch of bare earth. (This was in one of the better kept parts of the Labyrinth, where the ground is still completely covered by paving stones which have not been moved or broken. This explains why Tai and Agumon have not been able to find any plants growing - there is no room between the stones for them to grow.)

"You want us to eat dirt?" Tai asked, incredulous.

"No, not dirt. It's what's in the dirt." Agumon sunk his claws into the soil and came up with a mass of earth. he pulled one claw out, and Tai could see something wriggling on the end...

"Not the tastiest meal ever, but it'll do when you're this hungry." Agumon said. He popped the squirming creature in his mouth, swallowed, and then smiled shakily. "Better get digging if you want any. The early Birdramon gets the worm, you know."

"Yeah, well, Birdramon isn't here." Tai muttered, kneeling down next to the gaping hole and poking around tentatively.

"Yeah, she'd probably love this stuff." Agumon agreed. Biyomon and Sora, however, were busy with other matters, and their minds were far from food.

******

"So, let me get this right." Sora raised an eyebrow critically. "You ran around all night looking for Mimi, found her with another digimon, trailed around behind them all day, and then left again that night. And somehow managed to get really badly roughed up along the way."

A bedraggled Palmon nodded, subdued.

"One question. WHY?"

"It's that Quetzalmon." Palmon scowled. "He's so _rude_, and he never appreciates anything I do. The feather head is deliberately getting me into trouble, I know it. And all Mimi sees is how cute he is. She just doesn't know what that Quetzalmon's like."

Sora and Biyomon looked sideways at each other, sharing a knowing glance. They had a feeling that it was Palmon who couldn't see the whole picture.

Biyomon sat down on the ground next to Palmon. "What _is_ Quetzalmon like, Palmon?" she asked, cautiously.

"He's rude and mean. Especially to me." Palmon mumbled. "He led me into a stream where there were these fish that loved eating plants, so now I've got bites all over me. And I cooked all of us a really nice meal last night, fixed up these mushrooms with some herbs, and he said he liked mushrooms better the way they were."

"Well, maybe just isn't used to having his food cooked," Sora suggested.

"That's exactly what Mimi said!" Palmon burst out. "You don't understand either, that bird really has something against me."

"It can't be that bad, Pal." Biyomon slid one wing around her friend's shoulders. "_I _still love your cooking, you know. I'll bet those mushrooms tasted fantastic by the time you were finished with them."

"Thanks, Bee." Palmon replied, sadly. "I just wish Quetzalmon could be like that too."

"Maybe he isn't _quite_ as bad as you think, Palmon." Sora told the pitiful plant, gently.

"Do you know what he was like when I first met him?" Palmon growled, glaring so hard that Sora edged back slightly in surprise. "He demanded to know who I was, then asked Mimi why she hadn't told him that she had a digimon partner already. And then the stupid creature tells me he doesn't like flowers. Just like that! He doesn't like flowers, and he doesn't like me. Not like he likes Mimi."

"Well, it does seem that he gets along better with Mimi than he does with you..." Biyomon ventured.

"Gets _along_ with her?" Palmon laughed, a short, humorless bark. "The little twerp adores her. He'd fly through a thunderstorm for Meems, I'll bet. And she likes him just as much, coz he's so cute. Cuter than me. Like I told her, I can't compete with a feathered beanbag."

"And what did Mimi say to that?"

"She thought I was jealous. Jealous! Of that puff ball." Palmon laughed that strange laugh again.

Sora cleared her throat loudly. "Palmon, you do want to find Mimi again, don't you?"

"After she deserted me for beaky butt? As if!"

"Palmon?" Biyomon asked, more gently. Palmon sighed.

"I dunno, Biyo. I really don't want to see Quetzalmon again, but Mimi won't leave him..." Palmon faltered, staring at the ground.

"Well, we'd have to find the others eventually, anyway." Sora said, briskly. "We can't just sit around here all day, we'll need to get moving. And I'd like to see Mimi again, even if you don't. We all have a duty, you know, to protect the digital world and its inhabitants from the forces of evil. But don't you see, Palmon?" Sora turned to stare straight at Palmon "As digidestined, we also have a duty to protect each other, whether we-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Palmon jumped up again and started to trot along the path. Although Sora and Biyomon didn't know it, it was the direction of the place that Mimi and Quetzalmon had slept the night before.

When they arrived at the former campsite, there was not a shred of evidence to show that anyone had ever camped there. It was Palmon's manner that gave her away.

"I knew it." Palmon brushed away a few dead leaves to find a slightly blackened area on the ground. "I knew this was the place. They can't fool me, no way."

Sora and Biyomon wisely pretended they hadn't heard and went to observe the wall carvings.

"Sora, Biyomon, I know which way to go." Palmon announced. "Follow me and I'll help you find the others, and the way out." With that, she marched off down the path with her head held high.

"Great to see you happy again, Palmon." Biyomon remarked, just managing to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, well, I suppose I have to find Mimi and help her. After all, as her digimon partner, I _am_ the _only_ one who can protect her."

"Palmon, I have one more question." Sora said, loftily. "_Are_ you jealous of Quetzalmon?"

"Jealous? Of that sickeningly cute little bird brain? As if!"

"I'll take that as a yes." Sora muttered to herself.

******

Jyou wasn't having the best day. Gomamon had insisted at one point that he'd heard Tauromon talking on the other side of a wall that he and Jyou were walking along next to. Although Joe was sure that it was a bad idea, Gomamon ignored him completely and digivolved into Ikkakumon, using his Harpoon Torpedo to try knocking the wall down - after Jyou had gone to hide around the nearest corner. After a few useless attempts at knocking down the wall both as Ikkakumon and Zudomon, the little digimon de-digivolved back to Gomamon - and the wall collapsed on top of him. So Jyou spent all morning trying to dig his little friend out of the rubble. It wasn't the most fun thing he'd ever done; Jyou wasn't very good at hard work. After half an hour of hauling large and heavy smashed bricks, he collapsed against the pile and tried to ignore Gomamon's indignant shouts. 

"Jyou, whaddaya doin? Let me out! I've got the worst thumping headache and I'm hungry and I've got one paw stuck under a brick and my tail's getting squashed and I wanna get out, Jyou!" 

Gomamon wasn't too pleased that Jyou was taking a break. 

"Gomamon, I don't feel fantastic either. I have been lifting these things for hours because you were dumb enough to make it fall on yourself and I am exhausted. Gimme a break." 

"But this HURTS!" 

"And I'm TIRED!" 

"You should get more exercise." 

"Gomamon, it's your own fault you got stuck under there," Jyou said, firmly. "I don't have to get you out at all, I could just walk away and leave you here, you know." 

"No you can't." Gomamon replied, cheekily. 

"And why not?" 

"Because I'm your digimon partner, and without me you'll be all alone in the big Labyrinth with nobody to save you from the big, scary, miscreated, blood-sucking, flesh eating barbarian monsters." 

"I thought I said no more old horror movies." 

"You can't make me do anything." 

"Oh yeah?" 

"Oh yeah!" 

"Listen to me, Gomamon," Jyou said, sternly, "maybe you are the one supposed to protect me, but I have to do my bit looking out for you as well. And as long as you're doing silly things like hacking into walls so that they fall on top of you even after I've _told _you it's a bad idea and end up having to dig you out, then obviously I'm going to have to - MIMI?!" 

Mimi, with Quetzalmon perched on her shoulder, stepped daintily over the rubble from the other side of what used to be a wall. Joe had tumbled over and his glasses fallen off after the shock of seeing Mimi appear so suddenly. Gomamon, still trapped under the mess, was unaware of the sudden intrusion. 

"Going to have to Mimi? Jyou, what's that supposed to mean?" 

"Er, um, just a sec, Gomamon." Jyou said, scrambling to his feet and straightening his glasses. "Sorry, Mimi, I was, er, rather surprised to see you." he stammered. 

"Mimi's here?" Gomamon demanded. 

"Gomamon's under there?" Mimi asked, equally confused. 

"Yeah, he tried to knock down the wall but it fell on top of him and so I've had to dig him out and - hey, where's Palmon? And what's that thing on your shoulder?" 

Quetzalmon fluttered forward and hovered right in front of Jyou's face. "Pleased to meet you, sir." he chirruped. "My name is Quetzalmon and I am a friend of Mimi." 

"I'm Gomamon and I'm in SERIOUS PAIN HERE!!!" 

"It's nice to meet you, Quetzalmon," Jyou replied, politely, "but I really would like to know what happened to Palmon." 

"Palmon... doesn't get along with Quetzalmon very well." Mimi said, sadly. 

"She left because she didn't like me." Quetzalmon agreed. 

"Oh, I... wow. Gee, I'm sorry Mimi, I never really thought... wow." Jyou wasn't quite sure what to say. 

"Yes, I know." Mimi lowered her head. "She left last night, and I sort of hoped she'd be back in the morning, but she wasn't. So Quetzalmon and I just had to keep going." 

"Well, I'm sure she'll turn up eventually, Mimi." he reassured her. 

"EXCUSE ME FOR INTERRUPTING!" Gomamon yelled. "But I have been trapped under this pile of junk all day and it's starting to get just a _little_ annoying. So would you mind giving me a hand? Please?" 

Mimi and Jyou looked at each other and grinned. 

"I suppose we should help him out." Mimi said. 

"I suppose we should." Jyou agreed. 

They each bent down to pick up a brick. Then placed their bricks some distance away from the original pile. And then, ignoring Gomamon's continued threats, they sat down for a rest. Neither Jyou nor Mimi were very good at this hard work business. 

****** 

Yamato felt like he'd spent all of the last two days wandering in circles. Every corner, path, brick, wall, pebble, carving, weed, hole, puddle and crack looked exactly the same as the next. 

"How am I supposed to find anything in this place?" he cried, throwing his hands up in the air. 

"We'll find something eventually, don't you worry." Gabumon assured his emotional friend, just slightly nervously. 

"But we don't have time!" 

"There is no other way." Gabumon was firmer now. "Maybe we don't have much time, but complaining won't get us any more time, will it?" 

"But we can't just-" 

"Maybe the best thing to come out of this whole maze thing will be to teach you some patience!" 

Yamato stepped back suddenly, surprised by the digimon's fierceness. He sat down on the ground, hard. 

"Gabumon, I didn't really..." 

"I mean it, you have to learn some patience or you'll just get in more trouble." Gabumon kept a stern expression on his face. "We can't help the fact that we have very little time, although it is a problem. However, we must do what we can with the time we have. Patience and persistence are the only way to escape a maze such as this." 

Yamato gulped this time. It was true, he was very impatient at times, but he didn't think he was that bad. "Geez, Gabumon, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were that fed up with me." 

Gabumon kept the same look on his face, but his voice softened dramatically. "Well, I suppose you do get on my nerves occasionally. But hey, you annoy everyone else too, you know!" 

"Yeah, you're just the one that has to put up with me the most." Yamato ruffled Gabumon's fur affectionately. 

"I don't mind, Yamato. Really. I can't expect you to be perfect, can I?"

"Of course not. Nobody's perfect." he smiled wearily and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. Gabumon was suddenly worried. His human friend had hardly stopped walking since the digidestined had split up to search the day before. Yamato hadn't shown any signs of tiring before, but he suddenly looked very worn out. 

"I think you should stay here and rest for a while." Gabumon urged. The boy opened his eyes again and struggled to get up. 

"No, I'm okay, really. I can keep going..." whatever he had been planning to say was cut off by a huge yawn. 

"You see, you're exhausted. We can stay here and rest for a moment before we-" 

"No! We have to keep moving." 

"Tell you what," Gabumon was willing to compromise. "I'll run on ahead and have a look around while you rest. That way you can have a break and we won't have lost any time." 

"Yeah. 'Kay. Thanks, Gabumon." Yamato closed his eyes again, to weary to fight any longer. Satisfied, Gabumon began to jog down the path, looking left and right for... well... he wasn't quite sure what, but he was sure know when he saw it. 

As it happened, Gabumon didn't recognize what he was looking for at first. He'd seen the leaves of a large tree dangling over a wall, and thought it might be a good idea if he could climb up into the tree and get a good look around. He had never been big on climbing, but the little blue digimon tried his hardest, using cracks between bricks and grooves from the carvings to help make the ascent easier. The furry creature was almost about to give up on the wall and keep walking, when he caught a glimpse of what was on the other side. 

The tree that was peeking over the wall was just one on the fringe of a huge forest. As he reached the top of the wall, Gabumon could see trees, bushes, lovely soft earth and grass. It looked like paradise compared to the stone monstrosity on the other side of the wall. Gabumon began to walk across the wall top, the edge of the Labyrinth. He knew there must be a gateway somewhere, if he could wander for long enough. 

He had been following the outer wall for maybe twenty minutes when he noticed that it was suddenly becoming harder to walk across. The top of the wall now had all sorts of fancy lumps and bumps on it, and seemed to curve away at the edges. Just a little way ahead, it seemed to rise up and become almost a foot higher. Gabumon wasn't too keen on being any higher up than he had to, and he had good reason. As soon as he set one paw down on the raised section of the wall, it crumbled and fell - straight down. Looking through the hole he had just made, the furred digimon could see the Labyrinth's paving stones end abruptly and give way to the sandy earth of the forest that lay beyond. 

He had finally reached the gateway. 

Yamato had been asleep for less than an hour when Gabumon found him again and woke him by shouting as loudly as he could from the top of a wall. 

"But I don't want to get up." he mumbled, sleepily. 

"You have to. You have to see this. I found the way out of the Labyrinth." 

"You found WHAT?!" he suddenly looked a lot more awake. "How? Where is it? How long will it take us? And why are you standing on the top of the wall?" 

"I'll explain as we go. Follow me!" 

"So, my furry friend," Yamato puffed, jogging along below, "what exactly does standing on the wall have to do with all this?" 

"Well, you see, I can find my way to the exit like this." Gabumon explained. "And I can see a lot more from up here." 

"Yes, but how did you get up there in the first place?" 

"I wanted to get on the wall so that I could see better." 

"That's it?" 

"Well, then I saw what was on the other side of the wall." 

"Which is..?" 

"You'll see in a moment." 

Yamato was silent for a moment. Then he had another idea. "Gabumon, can you see any of the others from up there? I mean, since you can see so much..." 

"Hmm, give me a moment." Gabumon stared hard out at the maze behind him. "There's a big empty sort of space a little way out... I think I can see Tentomon in there somewhere. And over to the right I can see Greymon..." 

"Greymon!" 

"Yes, he digivolved. Do you think there's trouble?" 

"If there is, we have to help them." Yamato was determined to get back into the battle. 

"No. We can't just go running off now. We'll find the gate, and then we can go to help. But we must find the gate first." 

As they were just coming up to the gate then, he could hardly disagree. But he wasn't exactly approving as he wandered under the broken arch and began kicking around in the dirt outside for something to mark his way back. 

"A piece of clay, maybe." he told the digimon. "Or some chalk. Something that will make a mark on the walls, so we can follow them back to the entrance once we - hey, look at this!" 

He had uncovered a small knife that had been hidden in a patch of loose, sandy soil. It was plain, but the hilt was solid and the blade, although dirty, was still bright. 

"Wow, that's some dagger." Gabumon said. "Do you think it belongs to anyone here?" 

"There doesn't seem to be anyone around for it to belong to." Yamato remarked, still gazing at the weapon he held. Because that was what it was, a weapon. This was no pocket knife for slicing vegetables, but a real weapon he could use. To fight. And maybe even make some sort of mark in the stone walls of the Labyrinth. 

"Come on, Gabumon." Yamato said, not looking at his friend, but at the gateway to the Labyrinth. "It's time for us to go back." 

****** 

Tauromon had sensed that he was being a little too easy on the digidestined. They were having far too easy a time and were beginning to meet up with each other, like Sora and Biyomon had found Palmon. Several were far closer to secrets than they knew, and one digimon had actually managed to escape the maze - and then immediately gone back in to find its human partner. Foolish creature. But somehow, Tauromon couldn't blame the boy for wanting to help his friends. The strange half-humanoid digimon couldn't imagine leaving his friends (Mordremon, Serpentmon and the rest) trapped in a dangerous place while he escaped. 

Tauromon shook off the feelings quickly. Even if they did get out of the Labyrinth, those children could be facing even harder times in the forest. But getting out of the maze wasn't going to be easy for them, he would make sure of that. 

The Roachmon, even in their great numbers, had already been defeated. And Cockatorimon had made such a complete and utter fool of himself that Tauromon really didn't want to put him to work right now. Which left only one group of digimon to start stirring up trouble. He turned to the six grumbling creatures he had called up for this particular job. Each of them shouldn't have too much trouble finding their targets; walls were not much of a problem to these digimon. 

"I'll need two of you to attack each of these three groups." Tauromon scratched a rough map in the ground. "Each of them has only one fighting digimon, so you shouldn't have too much trouble with any of them. Just make sure you don't end up looking stupid like Cockatorimon and the Roachmon did." 

"Sure thing, boss." one of the digimon said. With great deal of noise, the digimon disappeared amid flying clumps of earth and stone. 

"Now, about this young 'genius'." Tauromon muttered to himself. "This one is going to be a little more difficult than I expected..." 

****** 

After his meal of worms, Tai wasn't feeling too great. He stumbled along, with one had on the wall for balance and the other clutching at his stomach. It was alright for Agumon, he was used to foraging, but Tai just wasn't cut out for this level of survival. 

"Tai, are you sure you're okay?" Agumon asked for the hundredth time.

"Yes, I'm fine. Really, just fine." _Except for eating a breakfast even more deadly that my mother's._ He added, silently. Why did he always listen to his stomach instead of his head?

"Because your stomach's louder, that's why." Agumon said, not turning back.

"Did I say that out loud?" Tai couldn't believe himself. If he was thinking out loud he must be worse than he thought.

But Agumon wasn't listening any more. He was kneeling down, pressing one ear to the ground.

"What's up, Agumon?"

"Shh." he silenced Tai with a wave of his claw. "Something's coming... move!"

Agumon leapt up and pushed Tai out of the way as the ground beneath them exploded. What looked like two drills burst out from under the soil and stone, followed by two heads which were connected to two bodies... which was probably more than Agumon could handle on his own.

"They're Drimogemon!" Agumon exclaimed. "Two of them!"

"No kidding." one of the mole-like digimon growled.

"Real smart, isn't he?" the other purple monster agreed.

"Agumon, I really don't think you can take these two on your own..." Tai began.

"Tai, I don't have a choice. They've got us cornered. Besides, we never run from a fight!"

And therefore, Agumon digivolved to Greymon.

"Nova Blast!"

As that didn't work, he proceeded to MetalGreymon.

There wasn't enough room in the narrow passage to throw in any really powerful attacks, but MetalGreymon gave the two champions as good as he got. The other digimon had trouble finding a weak spot in MetalGreymon's armor to land their drills, and the fiery dinosaur digimon could get a powerful hit with his metal claw and the horn on his helmet. With Tai yelling encouragement all the time, MetalGreymon battled bravely - while he could.

******

Sora, Biyomon and Palmon were having their own problems with Drimogemon. Biyomon had digivolved to Birdramon and then to Garudamon, though she was still having some difficulty with two enemy digimon. Palmon, though she couldn't digivolve without Mimi, was still fighting as hard as she could with Poison Ivy as her only available attack. She had caused quite a lot of confusion by whipping her long vines about and causing quite a distraction to the two ground-dwelling digimon.

Garudamon landed a hefty blow with one wing, but in doing so her foot landed dangerously close to Sora, knocking her to the ground.

"Watch it, Garudamon!" Sora shouted, dwarfed by the huge bird. Garudamon held the Drimogemon she was fighting around the neck with one hand, and picked Sora up with the other, placing her on her feathered back.

"I'm sorry to be a danger, Sora." Garudamon told the redhead. "You'll be safer up there. I think."

"Sure, Garudamon, but watch out for -"

The Drimogemon broke loose of Garudamon's grip and charged towards her, pointing the drill bit on its head like a sword. The other had just slammed its body against Garudamon, making her stumble towards the first.

"Poison Ivy!" From down on the ground, Palmon's vines flew out to wrap around the Drimogemon's drill, yanking it away from Sora and Garudamon. But this meant that the Drimogemon was now stumbling towards _her,_ and the flowered one's vines receded as the solid champion knocked her to the ground, where she ran the risk of being trampled.

"Garudamon, can you get in there and save Palmon?" Sora asked, desperately.

"Climb into my hand, Sora." Garudamon replied. This was going to be tricky.

There was now a Drimogemon on either side of Garudamon, making it extremely difficult to watch them both. They were standing a little in front of her, between the bird and Palmon, now lying half-conscious on the ground. Holding her hand (with Sora in it) in front of her, Garudamon tucked her wings in and charged forward. As the two Drimogemon rushed towards her, Garudamon thrust her wings out suddenly, stunning them both. She lowered Sora to the place where Palmon lay, and Sora dragged the bemused plant back onto the bird's hand. As the two groggy moles were getting up, Garudamon placed both Sora and Palmon on her back. They had tried, but it was too dangerous for them now.

Using nothing but her hands and wings, with encouragement from the two on her back, Garudamon battled the enemy digimon bravely, waiting for a chance to break away and use a more powerful attack.

******

Jyou and Mimi eventually pulled Gomamon out of the pile of rubble, but for some reason he wasn't very grateful. He sat grumpily in a corner, muttering about lazy bones and nursing his bruised paws. Joe and Mimi left him to it and just sat around chatting. Unlike some digidestined, they weren't in a hurry to get any where.

"So, Mimi, when do you think we should get moving again?" Jyou asked, looking around.

"Oh, I think it all depends really," Mimi replied. "If Gomamon stays there in the corner for days on end, then of course we will have to stay with him. If he'd just do the _sensible_ thing, stop complaining and come along, then we could be leaving very soon. Maybe eve right now."

"Hey, don't try to make me feel guilty." Gomamon snapped. "_You're_ the ones that took your time digging me out."

"And _you're_ the one that got yourself in there in the first place."

Quetzalmon looked uneasily from Gomamon to the humans. "Jyou, Mimi, maybe we should give Gomamon a break. He did a silly thing, but you don't have to be like this."

"Yeah."

"Alright."

"And Gomamon," Quetzalmon continued, "maybe you should just try to be more sensible in the future."

"I guess so." Gomamon bowed his head.

"Now go and shake hands. Or paws." Quetzalmon commanded.

But as Gomamon began inching towards the humans, the ground erupted and the spinning drill of a Drimogemon appeared, (note: this is where Mimi starts screaming) quickly followed by the Drimogemon itself. Gomamon wasted no time and digivolved straight to Ikkakumon, locking horns with the purple digimon.

Mimi backed away, trembling, as the two giant champions roared and tussled, knocking several large holes in the walls as they went. No matter what the others said, she always hated battles.

"I don't like battles to much either, you know." Jyou muttered, coming up next to Mimi. "Best to get out of the way, in my opinion. This could get messy."

Quetzalmon chirruped nearby as Jyou and Mimi stood together, dwarfed by the two digimon. They were keeping out of reach, out of the way. Out of danger.

Yeah, right.

Mimi screamed again as a few fragments of rock pelted her. Jyou pushed her out of the way as another Drimogemon clambered out of the ground from the place they had just been standing, where Ikkakumon was going to have a hard time reaching them.

Quetzalmon appeared suddenly and began diving at the Drimogemon, pecking at its eyes and brushing it with his feathers. He wasn't much more than an annoyance, but it gave Ikkakumon the precious time he needed.

"Ikkakumon, digivolve to... Zudomon!"

Zudomon whirled around and whacked the monster (Drimogemon, not Quetzalmon) soundly with his hammer. Jyou took a running start and leapt to Zudomon's back, helping Mimi up after him.

"Hold on, kids." Zudomon growled. "This is going to be some wild ride."

******

Unlike the other digidestined, Koushiro had not had trouble with enemy digimon. He had been rather busy all day. His wanderings had taken him to a place that the others hadn't even considered - the very heart of the Labyrinth.

At first, when he and Tentomon had stumbled upon the place, it appeared to be nothing more than an area which was somewhat larger than any he had come by yet. It was like a circular courtyard, with high walls and little else. Koushiro and his insectiod companion wandered for a while, wondering at the strangeness of it. Unlike the rest of the Labyrinth, the walls, although clean and undamaged, were completely smooth and blank, entirely devoid of carvings. It wasn't until Koushiro sat down that he realized what he had found. The importance of this place was not written on the walls, but on the floor.

"It's like a map of the entire Labyrinth!" he exclaimed. "All these twists and turns, the exit over there, and look! That must be the spot where Mimi ran away!"

"And look where we are now." Tentomon pointed out. He tapped one of his claws on a round space in the center of the map.

Peering closer, the two could see coloured spots in the middle of the circle. "Tentomon, do you think they could be... us?"

"I don't know who else they could be. You don't see anyone else around here, do you?"

"Then the others must be on here somewhere too. Over on the east side there, two more spots. There's another two very near the exit - they've done well." Koushiro sounded rather surprised at that.

"Look at that spot there, where one of the lined has sort of of smudged - there are four dots there."

"Some of the others must have met up again. And there's one more place where there are three dots in a group! Where could the third have come from?"

"Beats me." Tentomon shrugged. "I want to know what we're going to do now that we know all this."

"There's probably some way we can use it to out advantage." Koushy muttered. "Look at the digital code around the edges. Maybe that can give us a clue."

"We know that the digi code affects how things work in the digital world." Tentomon began. "Maybe we can use it to alter the labyrinth."

The red head sat with his computer, staring hard at the code all day, trying to find a meaning there. Tentomon watched the maze itself, as the spots moved slowly around the twisting corridors.

"It's so annoying." Tentomon sighed, at last. "Digi code is so difficult to understand. If we could just make the changes straight on the the map of the maze, we could get this done in a jiffy."

"THAT'S IT!!!" Koushiro leapt up into the air and bounded back to the centre of the map. "That is so much better than what I'm doing now. I'll change it so that we can bring everyone else here, and then cut a path directly to the exit. It's brilliant!"

"Izumi? That you?" Yamato's voice came from the other side of one wall.

"Yes, it is us." Tentomon replied. "Would you like to come around?"

"Well yeah, I'd like to see you, but how do I get around there?"

Before Tentomon could give directions, Koushiro had found a solution. He simply rubbed one of the lines on the map out - and there were Yamato and Gabumon, staring in disbelief as the wall disappeared before their eyes.

"How did you _do_ that?" Gabumon wondered.

"It's a map of the Labyrinth!" Koushiro said. "And I can change whatever I want about it. I'll get all f us together here, and then cut us a path to the exit. It's simple, and easy!"

"Well, you'd better get on with it." Yamato said, grimly. "The others are in trouble, they're being attacked by other digimon. You have to bring them here, now."

"I'm on it." With one swipe, he cut a path clear to where Tai and MetalGreymon were battling. "Tai! Get over here, now! HURRY!"

A bewildered Tai crashed down the path with Agumon (who de-digivolved on the way) right behind him. As they skidded into the round room, Izzy quickly replaced the walls with a pen he'd found in his pocket, keeping the Drimogemon out.

"How the hell...?" a dazed Tai sat down on the ground very suddenly.

"I'll explain in a moment." Koushiro was already at work on the maze again. Soon Jyou, Mimi, Gomamon and Quetzalmon joined the rest, looking just as bewildered. Those who had already heard the story were surprised to see Quetzalmon at Mimi's side instead of Palmon.

"You'll see in a moment." Mimi said, sadly.

They made a few more changes to the maze, and Sora, Biyomon and Palmon were with them once again. There was a painful moment when Palmon and Mimi first saw each other, Palmon hurt to see Quetzalmon still there, and Mimi sad that Palmon had not changed at all in her opinions. Tai opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced by a glare from Sora. Sometimes trying to help could make things worse.

"Well, then." Koushiro said, breaking the silence. "You're probably all a little surprised to find yourselves here."

"Hey, it's the digi world." someone muttered.

"I made a great discovery today when I stumbled upon this place." he continued. "If you'll look at the floor beneath your feet, you'll see a complete map of the Labyrinth. It is in fact magical, and can be used to alter the maze in any way we wish. I have brought us all back together here, for we can use this to escape the labyrinth very easily. I only have to erase a few of these lines and we will have a clear path to the exit."

"So get on with it." said the same person.

Koushiro gave the whole crowd a brief glare, then, with his finger, rubbed out all the lines between themselves and the way out. Immediately, the wall in front of them disappeared, amid a chorus of gasps. It was not the walls, though, that took everybody by surprise. In the distance they could see trees beyond the walls of the labyrinth. What shocked them all was that between themselves and freedom stood the bulky, forbidding, red-eyed Tauromon.

~~~~~~

That chapter jumped around a bit, but it was a bit hard not to with all the digidestined split up. It was fun to write, though! Some friends of mine have noticed a couple of Jyoumi hints in this chapter, so let me just say that I don't really support Jyoumi. I don't particularly support any couples, although I do like seeing the sorts of strange couplings that people come up with. (currently the oddest thing I've ever seen has been Ioblacku, that's Iori and BlackWarGreymon) If there are an excess of different hints in here, then it is purely to confuse those who think the only purpose of fanfiction is to include as many romance hints as possible.


	9. The madness of Tauromon

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: *yawn* Okay, okay, here it is again. I don't own digimon. I don't own the Labyrinth either, it belongs to Tauromon. The one thing in this chapter I _do_ own is... Tauromon. Does that mean the labyrinth is mine after all?

Here we are, the final battle! Until the next final battle, that is. This is just the final battle against Tauromon. After my footy team suffered a painful loss in the Grand Final (and I mean painful - half the team were injured) I've come to write a bit and relieve myself of the awful memories. With footy season gone, I can go back to worrying about world politics, terrorists, the Ansett crisis and the fact that our toaster is broken. Enjoy.

**Chapter 9 - The madness of Tauromon**

"Thought you were real smart, didn't you? Do you think I couldn't tell the changes in my own Labyrinth?"

Tauromon was the only thing standing between the digidestined and freedom, but he was a formidable creature. The only mega digimon in Mordremon's army, he was a fierce fighter and was unstoppable once he got angry. And he was very quick to anger.

"Izzy, what do we do now?" Tai asked, urgently. "How do we fight him?"

"I don't know, Tai." Izzy shook his head. "There's no tactics here. He doesn't have any plans, so we can't counter them. All we can do is hit him with everything we've got."

"And heaven help us when it gets dark." Sora muttered, darkly. The sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon, and it would be very difficult to battle by starlight.

"We'd better finish this battle quickly, then." Biyomon announced. "C'mon everybody, let's go get 'im!"

_**You know, I really don't like to write in the digivolving bits. It makes me feel stupid.**_

Greymon barreled down the path towards Tauromon as Birdramon and Kabuterimon took to the air. Garurumon leapt from wall to wall and Ikkakumon stayed at the back of the line, bombarding Tauromon with blasts of his harpoon torpedo. Tauromon held his ground, refusing to give in to the barrage of attacks.

"Palmon, aren't _you_ going to digivolve?"

Palmon, who had been lost in her own thoughts, started and looked up to see Quetzalmon wearing a concerned look.

"Why would you care?" she growled, turning away.

"Why shouldn't I care?" Quetzalmon looked a little confused now. "I mean, we need your help. You're digidestined, you're supposed to fight evil digimon. You're supposed to protect Mimi."

"Mimi doesn't need me. She has you now." Palmon replied, bitterly. Quetzalmon was somewhat shocked.

"Is that really what you think?" he asked. "Mimi is a wonderful human, even if she doesn't like fighting, and I know she liked me too, but I can't help her. I'm not digidestined. _You_ are."

Palmon wanted to ignore Quetzalmon, to turn away, but a cry from Mimi caught her attention. Mimi was in no more danger than any of the other digidestined, but she seemed horrified by the fight, backed up behind the other kids as far away from the action. As Birdramon was thrown to fly over the heads of the children and crash against a back wall, Mimi cringed and looked, pleading, at Palmon.

Without another thought, Togemon was storming down the path towards a rampaging Tauromon.

Amazing, the things that can change your mind.

The battle was not going well for the digidestined. Birdramon picked herself up and continued trying to fight, but it was difficult for her. And Togemon's contribution had not made much of a difference. Kabuterimon had been knocked down several times, and Garurumon had gotten completely lost when Tauromon had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and just thrown him half way across the Labyrinth. And as for Greymon... the big dinosaur had suffered the most of all, his head-on collisions earning him blows just about everywhere. His bony, skull-like helmet was beginning to show a few minute cracks from all the attacks it had taken. The only digimon not harmed much was Ikkakumon, hidden down a side passage and firing a constant stream of Harpood Torpedos. Something had to give, and it looked like it was going to be the digidestined.

"Bullseye!" Tauromon let off one of his favourite attacks, the red energy ball knocking Birdramon and Kabuterimon to the ground. To rid himself of the other digimon, Tauromon simply stomped his two feet on the ground so hard that the tremors threw Greymon, Togemon and all the digidestined off their feet. Even Ikkakumon shook a little, though he never ceased his constant attack.

"I think we need a change, team!" Tai announced, clambering to his feet. "Champion digimon aren't going to be strong enough. Let's go ultimate!"

A few seconds later, MetalGreymon was charging down the path to lock horns with Tauromon. Literally. Lillymon, Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon resumed their own fierce attacks. The children heard another roar from a little way away, out of sight:

"Ikkakumon, digivolve to-"

"Hold it, Ikkakumon!" Joe interrupted. "Don't digivolve yet, we need you to keep up the harpoon torpedo."

"Well, if you say so, Joe." Ikkakumon grumbled. He had wanted to go ultimate like the rest, but if Joe wanted him to keep bombing Tauromon, then that was what he would do.

MetalGreymon and Tauromon were still locked together in a sort of strange wrestling match, like so many other wild creatures were apt to do. Although their respective horns were twisted together, they had also gripped each other's hands/claws and were straining to push each other progressively further backwards. It was more a fight for bragging rights than it was for the good of the team. Neither of the digimon could use their special abilities, as MetalGreymon's claw was gripping Tauromon's hand and Tauro's horns were locked in the dinosaur's. This was simply a test of their pure strength - and right now, Tauromon was winning.

Inch by inch (it takes to long to write centimetre) MetalGreymon was slipping back towards the human children. He had refused offers of help from the three airborne digimon, although he had no objection to the continued attacks of Ikkakumon. Although the occasional torpedo did peel off in the wrong direction and blast MetalGreymon instead.

"Matt, what the heck do you think you are doing?" Mimi demanded, seeing Matt clinging to one of the walls.

"Yeah, those wall could collapse any minute." Izzy added. "What with all the fighting going on."

"Oh, be quiet for a minute and let me climb." Matt replied, irritably.

"But what are you _doing?"_ all eyes (apart from the ones trained on the fighting digimon) were on Matt now, temporarily distracted from the battle going on so close to them.

"I have to find Garurumon." he shouted, straining higher. "It's getting dark and he might not be able to find his way back."

"Matt, it's a bit hard not to notice the battle here." Sora reminded him, impatiently. "I'm sure Garurumon can find his way back without you risking your silly neck."

"You don't have to do this, Matt." Joe put in.

"I really don't want to see you dead." Tai agreed. "Well, not right now, anyway."

"Thanks a lot." Matt shot back, sarcastically. "Great to know how much you care, Taichi. But I don't care what you lot say, I'm going to find Garurumon. We need him here."

More protests arose as Matt rose progressively higher, always claiming that he'd be fine, they didn't have to worry. He couldn't ignore them forever, though, and was almost starting to doubt the wisdom of his actions when he found Quetzalmon hovering above his head.

"I think you should let Matt go and do what he wants." Quetzalmon announced. "He needs to find his digimon. If it was your digimon who was lost, then any of you would want to find your partner, too."

The others nodded reluctantly and began to change their protests to encouragement. And Lillymon turned her eyes away from Quetzalmon, her head full of thoughts. For defending Yamato was certainly not for Mimi's sake alone. Could she have been just a little wrong about Quetzalmon's attitude?

Shaken by an answer she did not really want to believe, Lillymon turned her attention back to the battle - which was not going at all well for MetalGreymon. Despite the fact that Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon were helping out now, and Ikkakumon had finally digivolved to Zudomon, the big, (mostly) orange digimon was quickly losing ground and was now backed up almost to the place where the humans were standing. If help did not come fast, then they could all be in some serious danger. 

******

Matt was now balanced precariously on the top of the wall. The sun had set and the light was quickly dimming. He strained his eyes but could not see the big blue digimon anywhere, not even from the top of the wall, where Gabumon said he could see everything. Oh, where was that silly creature? It wasn't just the battle, Matt was sure, he really just wanted Gabumon back, right here next to him. He wasn't going to do what Mimi did when Palmon ran away. He wanted his digimon back.

Matt shook his head and tried to put all thoughts of Mimi out of his mind. He shouldn't be comparing her to himself, no matter what she did. Look at the silly girl, keeping back in the shadows there. How could she just let Palmon run away?

_Stop it! _he thought, _There must be a reason. There has to be. I don't know why they were separated but they're back together and Lillymon's fighting again. Just think about Garurumon._

MetalGreymon took another crunching step backwards, now only a metre or so from the round room in the Labyrinth's centre. Matt felt a few shards of brick come loose from the wall he was sitting on. He'd better get on with it if he wanted to stay alive much longer.

"Matt, get down from there, you idiot!" Sora yelled. "Garurumon can find his own way back."

"No, Sora, I'm going to find him." Matt was stubborn when he wanted to be.

"Please, Matt, we don't want to be wiping you off the floor when this is over." Tai this time. "It'd take too long, there's so much of you."

"Taichi, for the last time, _you are not helping!"_ Matt found Tai rather annoying at times.

With a huge roar, MetalGreymon stumbled backwards again. His thick tail thrashed about, smashing huge portions out of the walls. All the children ducked as the walls began to crumble. Including the one that Matt was sitting on.

"Matt, get down from there NOW!" someone yelled.

Garudamon, Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon were all latched on to Tauromon now, their wings flapping/buzzing like mad, trying to force him backwards or at least ease the pressure on MetalGreymon. Zudomon had flattened Tauromon's feet with his hammer several times, but Tauromon eventually kicked the annoying sea creature out of the way, causing it to de-digivolve.

"It's okay, Gomamon." Joe said, grabbing his digimon and dodging a flying rock. "You tried."

"Matt, GET OFF THE BLOODY WALL!!!" Taichi forgot to try being funny this time.

Matt shook his head, only just managing to hold onto the wall. He didn't know how he was staying on, what with the shaking and the crumbling of the bricks, but he was here. With another swipe of MetalGreymon's tail, the walls shook again and Matt was nearly thrown off. The other kids were in trouble right now too, and weren't able to yell at him to get down. But there was no way he could get down from there now anyway, not with MetalGreymon actually in the circular centre of the Labyrinth. The others were actually looking for side tunnels to hide from.

The place shook again and Matt felt himself slipping. The sky was pitch-black and he couldn't see a thing save for the battling digimon behind him. Holding on with only one arm, Matt reached for the digivice on his belt and held it out as far as he could.

"GARURUMON!!!"

A beam of light shot out from the digivice, lighting up the darkness as it went. The light shot between two walls and there was a sort of explosion, lighting the area around it so that Matt could just see a glowing Garurumon leap up from where he had been lying on the ground. Then the light disappeared again, plunging Matt back into darkness as he slipped down, desperately looking for a foothold to steady himself. But before he could start to worry, Matt was swept off the wall by a creature that bounded up from the other side of the wall, a creature with very furry, blue, striped hands...

"WereGarurumon! You got here after all." Matt grinned as the digimon placed him on the ground.

"Sure did." Garurumon growled. "Now I think my friend MetalGreymon might need a hand."

Jumping nimbly on top of MetalGreymon's head, WereGarurumon unleashed a Wolf Claw attack which exploded against Tauromon's head and back. The part-human only grunted and continued harassing MetalGreymon. It was not enough - yet.

"Taichi, COME HERE!!" Matt roared. Tai popped up suddenly beside him with a silly grin on his face.

"Yes, master?"

"I think it's time we gave Tauromon everything we've got. The whole thing. You get what I mean?"

"I believe I do." Tai's smile hardened into a determined look. "MetalGreymon, back off."

"But Tai, I was just about to-" the dinosaur protested.

"Just do it."

Reluctantly, MetalGreymon wrenched his horns from Tauromon's and stepped backwards, taking WereGarurumon with him.

"Now de-digivolve." Matt ordered, beating Tai to it. The digimon were starting to get the idea, and shrunk back down to become Agumon and Gabumon once more.

"What, you're giving up already?" Tauromon sneered. "Weaklings, all of you." He hit each of the three digimon behind him a hard blow, and they fell back to Biyomon, Tentomon and Palmon.

"Go get 'im, boys." Sora murmured.

"Oh, I hope they can do it." Mimi had a worried expression on her face.

"It's okay, Mimi." Quetzalmon reassured the girl. "I have a feeling they know what they're doing."

"You know, for a pipsqueak, that thing's pretty smart." Joe admitted, fiddling with his glasses."

"As smart as me?" Gomamon wanted to know.

_Probably smarter._ Joe thought to himself, turning back to watch the fighting digimon.

"Agumon!" Tai began, "Let's give this monster everything we've got."

"C'mon, Gabumon." Matt continued, "It's time to go Mega!"

Warp-digivolving, of course.

Tauromon was rather surprised to see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon glaring at him, and wasn't so sure of himself now. He could take as many champion or ultimate digimon as they wanted to throw at him, but two Megas... nobody had told him these digimon could get to their Mega stages. At least it seemed to be only two of them. If the others were mega too, he might have a problem.

"I suppose you two think you're pretty good." Tauromon growled.

"No, we don't _think_ we're good." WarGreymon replied. "We _are_ good."

"I'll take that as a yes." Tauromon snarled.

"It doesn't matter what you say," MetalGarurumon was getting impatient. "It's how we _fight_ that matters."

"Well put, MetalGarurumon." Tauromon smirked. "If that's the case, then why don't we begin? Bullseye!"

"Terra Force!"

Tauromon's energy ball was overcome by WarGreymon's Terra Force. Tauromon stepped back in surprise, never expecting such a powerful attack.

"_Now_ do you think we're hopeless?" WarGreymon asked, loftily.

"There's more than one way to fight." Tauromon roared, hotly. "Earthquake!"

He stomped his feet and the ground began to pitch and cracks appeared. Tai and Matt stumbled but were saved from falling down the cracks in the earth when Biyomon and Tentomon swept through and knocked them back. Only Palmon was left on the other side of Tauromon's bulk, separated from the rest. She was trying to make her way to the Labyrinth's exit, although the earthquake attack and impending darkness were making things difficult.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Quetzalmon chirped, guessing Mimi's thoughts.

"Oh, I hope so," Mimi shook her head. "I don't know where I'd be without Palmon."

Tauromon's attempt to shake the other Mega digimon was not quite having the desired effect. Instead of being thrown off their feet like Tauro had hoped, the two Megas simply rose into the air, making things even more difficult for the raging beast. He hadn't been prepared for _flying_ opponents, although many, many Mega digimon possessed that power.

He just wasn't one of them.

There were, however, other ways to achieve an end. With another energy ball forming between his horns, Tauromon vaulted to the top of a wall and managed to grab MetalGarurumon's foot, dragging the giant digimon down. Tauromon dragged himself clumsily onto the wolf's back and with both hands around the blue one's neck, sent the Bullseye attack flying to smash against WarGreymon's chest, temporarily stunning the orange beast. He then tried to strangle MetalGarurumon and rid himself of another opponent, but the wolf writhed and bucked midair, so that Tauromon had a hard time keeping his balance. Finally MetalGarurumon could see an opening and took his chance.

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

The icy blast sent Tauro plummeting downwards to land heavily. He looked at MetalGarurumon, who was panting heavily, and WarGreymon who was shaking his head and beginning to wake up. Maybe there was a way to beat these two...

Tauromon glared with reddened eyes as the two digimon floated down to land in front of him. He was getting angry now, to angry to be bothered with tactics, to angry to think. There was no thinking, no planning now. Just fighting. Had to fight, had to hurt them, had to win.

"Tauromon, have you had enough yet?" WarGreymon bellowed. "If you will let us all go freely from the Labyrinth, then we will leave you unharmed."

"And what if I don't let you go?" the evil one whispered, dangerously.

"Then we will not stop fighting until we have destroyed you or we ourselves are destroyed." MetalGarurumon answered.

"Well, that's where I've got the advantage, then." Tauromon snarled, maniacally. "Because I will keep fighting, even after I am destroyed. I will never, ever stop fighting."

And with that, Tauromon barreled towards the two digimon and sent them both smashing through several walls.

Tauromon was now fighting at a level that no-one had ever seen before. He was a maniac, driven to insanity by his rage. He seemed not to notice the terrible wounds he was receiving, nor the destruction that he himself was creating. The only thing that remained clearly in his mind was to destroy WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. No, not destroy. That was too blunt, to clean and evasive. He wouldn't destroy the other digimon, he would kill them.

After going around and around in the seemingly endless fight, all three digimon were becoming exhausted. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon stood and panted for a moment, refusing to look at the cuts and gashed they had acquired. But their wounds were nothing compared to those that Tauromon had taken. The red eyed monster looked as though he had been bathed in blood, covered from head to foot in criss-crossing cuts. One arm hung limp by his side, having been damaged so severely by MetalGarurumon's teeth that it was no longer able to move. And yet, the bizarre creature refused to stop, charging at the others once again.

"Terra Force!"

"Ice Wolf Claw!"

Tauromon was thrown almost all the way to the Labyrinth's exit by the ferocity of the attacks. This time, he took longer to get up. The pain had finally managed to seep through his defenses and he found that his head was slowly clearing, that the madness was starting to fade.

As the red light of battle faded from his eyes, Tauromon turned his head to see another creature, a tiny one, standing next to him. He propped himself up on his good elbow and looked at the things beside him. Yes, he recognized it now... one of those digidestined thingummys. What was it doing way over here? It was saying something. Talking to him.

"Tauromon? Are you okay? You look awful, if you don't mind my-"

Tauromon slowly sat up and picked up the creature in the palm of his good hand. He began walking back to the rest of the strange group, stumbling from his many injuries. He could see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon waiting to attack him again, but he held up his hand before they could make a move.

"Don't attack." his voice was rough and unsteady, but carried the message. "If you come one step nearer, then this little one with be ground to dust." he closed his hand, hiding the digimon and it's frightened face.

Even in the darkness, Mimi had no doubt about what was happening. Somehow, almost instinctively, she just knew. "Palmon!"

For it _was_ Palmon, searching for a way out in the darkness, who had been captured by the mad ruler of the Labyrinth. She was scared, so scared, that this crazy digimon would kill her before she had a chance to redeem herself to Mimi. In this moment of crisis, Palmon wanted more than anything to make up for the things she had done in the last few days, to Mimi and to Quetzalmon, but now she may never have the chance. Peeking over the top of Tauromon's fist, Palmon could see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon hovering uncertainly. Tai and Matt, all of the others, in fact, had no idea what to do in this sort of a stand-off. But the only face Palmon was searching for was Mimi's, the face that was so worried, so tense that Palmon swore that if she ever got out of this mess, she would never upset Mimi again.

Palmon didn't notice the fact that Quetzalmon was no longer hovering by Mimi's side.

"Psst. Palmon." someone whispered in the flower's ear (I just realized how strange that sounds; does Palmon have ears?)

Palmon didn't turn her head but whispered back, "Is that you, Quetzalmon?"

"Yes, it is." Palmon felt the tiny bird come to rest on her shoulder. "Palmon, I know that we didn't get off to a very good start, and I'm sorry about it. I was kind of rude to you when we first met... you surprised me, that's all."

"I should be the one apologizing." Palmon argued. "I was horrible, I didn't even give you a chance. Please, you should be the one to forgive me."

Quetzalmon sighed. "Palmon, I know that you and Mimi have a very special friendship, one that I could never hope to echo. I shouldn't have acted the way I did, but don't blame Mimi for it."

"Oh, I won't." Palmon almost smiled. "After all this, I don't think I could ever be angry with Mimi again."

"I'm going to try to get you out of here, Palmon."

"You're mad!"

"Someone's got to do it." With that, Quetzalmon puffed up his feathers, making himself look twice as big as usual, like a big round ball of feathers. Then, to Palmon's shock, he burst into flames!

"Firefly!" the fireball shouted, ramming itself into Tauromon's hand. The monster dropped Palmon and roared in pain and shock, turning to the strange little thing that had hurt him.

"What is this?" he grunted. "Stupid creature."

He swung his (now singed) hand at the flaming bird, but Quetzalmon zipped nimbly out of the way, then darted in to burn the giant one again. A dazed Palmon looked up from where she had fallen to witness the strange spectacle, a tiny ball of fire harassing a gigantic monster. If it weren't for the fact that it was dangerous and would affect the fate of the digital world, it would probably be quite funny.

"C'mon, Quetzalmon!" Palmon cheered, to Mimi's obvious surprise. "Go get him! Burn the stupid fool, go for his head, dive and grab his tail, bite his toes, duck! Quetzalmon!"

The tiny digimon crashed to the ground next to Palmon, and the fire surrounding him died abruptly. Once again, he was a little blue-green bird.

"I'm sorry." he squeaked. "Tauromon's just to good for me."

"Don't worry about it, Quetzalmon." Palmon reassured the bird. "It's time for me to fight. Get back to Mimi if you can, she'll look after you." Then the plant digimon turned back to Tauromon. "You may have beaten Quetzalmon and survived attacks from the other Megas, but this time you're going to have to stand up to me!"

Mimi, running forward to scoop up Quetzalmon (and scold Palmon) was amazed to find her digivice suddenly beginning to glow an incredible green colour, brighter than it had ever done before. A huge beam of light shot out to hit Palmon, who began her most incredible transformation yet.

"Palmon warp-digivolve to..." (okay, just this once)

Palmon flipped over and zoomed upwards, first to Togemon, then Lillymon, then another incredible Mega digimon that none of them had ever seen - until now.

At first, the digimon seemed humanoid, but with an odd feature - her head was encased in rose petals. She was dressed entirely in red and she also had extremely high black boots. Several large, green leaves covered her shoulders and surrounded the back of her neck but allowed for her long, blonde hair, tied with a red ribbon, to stream out behind her. A long, white cape appeared, a pattern of crescent moons around its jagged edge. As human and digimon watched in awe, two thorny vines appeared and wrapped around the digimon's red-gloved arms; the one on the left arm formed into a whip and the one on the right a long, thin blade known as a rapier. A new Mega digimon had joined the ranks.

"Rosemon!"

"This is incredible." the amazed Mimi whispered. "My little Palmon, a Mega digimon."

"You'd better believe it, Meems." Rosemon grinned wickedly. "You'll be seeing me around, that's a sure thing."

One of the boys (I suspect it was Matt) gave a low whistle.

"What exactly is the meaning of all this?" The exhausted Tauromon demanded.

Rosemon looked around, thoughtfully. The other Mega digimon had been reduced back to Koromon and Tsunomon and had gone back to their human companions. Quetzalmon was safe with Mimi. Joe, Izzy and Sora had come out of their hiding places to gaze at the new digimon. She turned back to Tauromon with a smirk on her face.

"It means, big guy, that you're done for. Thorn Whip!"

The whip in Rosemon's left hand flicked out to catch Tauromon a stinging blow on the snout. He staggered back, more in surprise than in pain, and rubbed the place that Rosemon had struck.

"You'll regret that one. Bullseye!" the maddened monster roared. But his roar of anger turned to one of shock when Rosemon's Thorn Whip disintegrated the energy blast with a careless flick.

"You're a bit tired, aren't you?" Rosemon taunted. "Had a long day, huh? Let's see if I can help you sleep a little easier."

Rosemon's whip tangled itself around Tauromon's neck this time. As he tried to tear it with his working hand, Rosemon paid him a hard kick between the eyes. The monster staggered back, dazed, and sat down on the ground, very hard, rubbing his head distractedly. The flying flower fairy hovered in front of him with a cheeky smile on her face.

"There, now don't you feel better?" she teased.

"Actually, I think I'll be waking up with a splitting headache tomorrow morning." Tauro mumbled.

"The way you've been behaving tonight, I'm not surprised." Rosemon scolded. "Drinking's not the only thing that'll give you a hangover, you know. Madness seems to have the same effect."

Madness? Yes I was mad, I suppose. But it helped me, didn't it. Sometimes, my dear, madness can come as a friend." With those cryptic words, Tauromon swung around and lashed out at Rosemon with his tail, sending her flying this time.

"What was that for?" Rosemon demanded, picking herself up.

"You were annoying me." Tauromon shrugged.

"You think that was annoying, you should try this!"

The whip struck out again, this time wrapping itself around one of Tauromon's feet. Rosemon yanked it hard and the giant's feet were pulled out from under him, bringing him down to earth with a thud. The flower fairy reeled it back and, before Tauromon could recover, was mercilessly attacking the back of his head, striking it time and time again. Tauromon, though exhausted and already badly injured, was still refusing to go down without a fight and rolled over, grabbing the whip in his hand and pulling Rosemon towards him. She kicked desperately at his hand, then struck him lightly with the rapier in her right hand. Tauromon let go of the whip and jumped backwards, shaking his hand.

"How do you do it?" Rosemon asked in wonder.

"Do what?" the beast grunted.

"Keep fighting, even when you're hurt so badly. Most digimon would have lost this battle long ago, and yet you're still here, still going. How can you do that?"

"I'm afraid it's because I'm completely mad." Tauromon sighed. "It's really not such a good thing. Look at me, I'm a mess. If I had given up when most digimon would, then I would never have had to earn a lot of these injuries."

"So you'd rather be a little more sane and give up when you can?" Rosemon asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Tauromon lowered his head. "Yes, I would." He looked up, and there was no red light of madness in his eyes but cold, clear understanding. "Remember that. Remember it when you face Mordremon, for she lives with a madness far harder to bear than my own."

"It has been an honour to fight you, Tauromon." Rosemon said, solemnly.

A ghost of a smile flitted across Tauromon's bruised face. "Ah, but we're not done yet, are we?"

"Indeed we're not." Rosemon agreed, and the fight began again in earnest.

Rosemon's Thorn Whip lashed out again and again. Tauromon's sheer bulk let him dominate the flower fairy at times. They circled, jabbed and ducked, always keeping in mind what the other's next move would be. This sort of calculated fighting was entirely new to Tauromon, but he could get used to it, he thought. He had plenty of time. For in the digital world, nothing is ever truly gone.

Rosemon knew that now it was the time to land her last blow. She was exhausted and didn't know if she could keep fighting much longer, and she knew that despite the energetic way he fought, Tauromon must be exhausted too. He was backed up against one particularly large pile of rubble, panting heavily. Now was the time to strike. For only the second time during the battle, Rosemon tightened her fist around the blade in her right hand. Raising it above her hand, she plunged towards Tauromon.

"Rose Rapier!"

The rapier buried itself in Tauromon's stomach. With one last, echoing roar, the crazy beast disintegrated, the dust floating away beyond the labyrinth to the sea where the first rays of sunlight were beginning to peep over the horizon.

A cheer went up from the other digidestined as Rosemon de-digivolved and once again became a little Tanemon. During the fight she had almost forgotten that the others were there, and smiled as Mimi came to scoop her up, hugging the little green digimon so tight that for a moment she could hardly breathe. Mimi smiled even more widely when Quetzalmon appeared and perched on her shoulder without a single protest from Tanemon.

"Mimi, I'm sorry." Tanemon began. "I've been really stupid the last couple of days, about Quetzalmon and stuff, and I'm really sorry."

"And I should have tried harder to be nice to Palmon." Quetzalmon admitted. "I'm sorry too, Mimi. Will you forgive us?"

Mimi laughed and hugged them both. "How could I not forgive you, you wonderful silly creatures? You were both unbelievable the way you fought Tauromon."

"Really?" Tanemon wanted to know.

"Really." It was Joe this time. "I have honestly never seen a digimon so crazy as that Tauromon, and I don't expect I will see one again for a long time."

"Even we couldn't take him down." Koromon said as Tai strolled up.

"Yes, and we've been Megas for years _and_ there were two of us." Tsunomon agreed.

"Well, I don't think I could have done it without you two." Tanemon told them, modestly.

Chattering and laughing, all of the digidestined headed out of the Labyrinth as the sun crept slowly over the horizon. When they got to the forest, Mimi turned around to see Quetzalmon hanging behind.

"Quetzalmon, what are you doing?" Mimi cried.

"Can't you come with us?" Tanemon pleaded.

Quetzalmon shook his head sadly. "No, I'm afraid not. I must stay in the Labyrinth, for there is much that needs to be done here. But I wish you all good luck on your travels, and I hope that you have some luck fighting Mordremon. We will all help you in any way we can."

"You already have, Quetzalmon." Tanemon smiled.

******

At about midday, after walking very slowly through the forest, the digidestined decided to have a rest and sleep for a while. After all, they _had_ been up all night fighting Tauromon. As Tanemon was dozing off under the warm sunlight, she heard a little voice chirping in her ear...

"I forgot to thank you, Tanemon. Those mushrooms were delicious."

~~~~~~

Okay, so I love battle scenes. Even I agree that that was almost too detailed, but what can I say? I was having fun. By the way, I don't know if that's what Rosemon's attacks are really like. I know that the attacks are Thorn Whip and Rose Rapier, but not how they act or what they do. This was just my guess.

In the next chapter we shall meet the next main villain. See you then!

(PS a review would be nice)


	10. A minor distraction

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: It's becoming almost automatic, putting disclaimers at the start. I was writing a poem the other day and I almost wrote 'Disclaimer' at the top!

Oh, yeah, and by the way, I. DON'T. OWN. DIGIMON.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed in these last couple of weeks. And a special thank you to FireFinch, who has named this story the undiscovered fic of the week! Thank you to Sunny Aino, my friend in real life as well as on the net, for pointing out a little typo back in chapter three. And thank you to ::dragonfire:: for the chocolate. I forgive you. Many thanks, everybody! And since several people seem to want to see the 02 kids again, I've decided to cross back to Mordremon herself this chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter 10 - A minor distraction**

"Uh, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining," Armadillomon said, "but I am _really_ hungry!"

"I'm sure Phantomon will come back with some food for us soon." Cody reminded his ravenous 'mon. "Just be patient."

"How can we be patient when we're stuck in here?!" Davis had spent the last few days pacing up and down the dungeon in which they were imprisoned. "Mordremon and her freaky gang are up there plotting the death of the digiworld, the others are off fighting goodness knows what, and we're sitting here doing nothing!"

"Well what do you expect us to do, Davis?" Yolei demanded. "None of the digimon can digivolve and Phantomon's the only one with the keys. It's not like we have a choice!"

"But we aren't even trying!" Davis argued.

"What do you expect us to do, go around kicking the walls?"

"It's better than sitting around staring at them."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't be much help with a broken leg, would you?"

"Oh, shut up." TK growled. Everyone turned to stare at him. "It might be a help if we could do something, but we can't. At least we do know what's going on down below where the older kids are fighting. They've got no idea what's happening to us. And I'm sure that if they did, they'd be disappointed to hear us fighting like this."

Kari nodded in agreement. "I know that Tai would want us to be doing something useful."

"Exactly!" Davis jumped up.

"But he'd also want us to do it sensibly." Gatomon pointed out.

"Just what I was saying." Yolei nodded.

"I think we should try to at least distract Mordremon and the others." Ken said, quietly. "It is a terrible thing that she is trying to do. I lost Wormmon once..." he looked fondly at his digimon, then shook his head, unable to go on.

"I know, I know." TK lowered his head. "I lost Patamon once too. It is an awful thing, to lose a digimon like that."

"But I came back, didn't I?" Patamon jumped on top of TK's hat and the boy smiled sadly.

"Yes, Patamon, but if Mordremon succeeds then any digimon that... we lose... won't be able to come back."

"I don't know what I would have done if Wormmon hadn't come back." Ken whispered. "I don't think I could have survived without him. I just don't know."

"Which is why we have to stop Mordremon." Wormmon told him. "So that nobody ever has to suffer the pain of losing a digimon."

"And so that none of us digimon are ever truly lost." Hawkmon pointed out.

"I couldn't go away." Veemon announced. "Davish needs me!"

"So we all agree that we have to do something." Kari announced. "To stop Mordremon's dreadful scheme!"

"But first," Armadillomon interrupted, "I gotta eat!"

Cody smiled and leaned back against the wall. "I told you, Phantomon's gonna be - whoa!" the smallest boy stumbled as a large stone block slid into the wall, leaving a gaping hole. "Where'd that come from?"

"Whatever it is, it hasn't been used for a while." TK said, peering inside. "It's packed with rocks and stuff. Besides, we won't fit through, that's way too narrow."

"You won't fit, but I will." Patamon pointed out.

"We still need to get through all that packed rock." Davis said. "Can you help, Veemon?"

"I'm not very good at digging." Veemon shook his head.

"No problem." Armadillomon scrambled into the hole that the stone had left and immediately set to work, sending rock shards and clumps of dirt flying backwards into the dungeon.

"Ugh, earth creature." Hawkmon grimaced. "I can't imagine how he can just leap into a hole like that and actually feel at home. It's _unnatural,_ being surrounded by earth."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Gatomon agreed. "There's no way you're getting me down that hole. It'd take _hours_ to get all that out of my fur."

"I don't think you need to worry, Gatomon." Kari smiled.

"Yeah, we seem to have plenty of volunteers." Yolei said, dryly.

Patamon, Veemon and Wormmon had all climbed into the hole after Armadillomon and were following him up the rapidly lengthening tunnel. It was heading slightly upwards, but it was quite cramped in there and several of the digimon were beginning to get annoyed.

"Patamon, will you keep your wings out of my face?" Veemon growled.

"I'm sorry, Veemon," Patamon said from up ahead, "but I have to stick them behind me or they'll get squashed by the roof!"

Veemon just snorted. "Yeah, wouldn't _that_ be a disaster. You flying digimon are all the same."

"But Veemon, you can fly too when you digivolve." Wormmon said from the back of the line. Veemon ignored him and went on criticizing Patamon.

"You just have to have room for your precious wings, don't you? Never mind what I think."

"Veemon, you could just slow down so that you're not walking into the back of me." Patamon shot back.

"Well, I could, but I wouldn't want to slow Wormmon down." Veemon replied, in a voice which suggested that he was being very considerate and that Patamon should do the same.

"Actually, Veemon, I wouldn't really mind." Wormmon said, tapping the blue one on the shoulder. Veemon just shrugged him off and Wormmon sighed. He had been wishing that they could slow down. He wasn't the fasted of digimon.

"What's a flying digimon doing in a tunnel anyway, Patamon?" Veemon kept going. "Don't you feel terribly _trapped_ with no room to flap your wings? Shouldn't you be back with Gatomon where you won't get your paws dirty?"

"If you care so much about Gatomon," Patamon asked, "then why aren't you backs there keeping her company?"

Veemon straightened up so fast that he hit his head on the roof of the tunnel. How could he have been so stupid? This was his one chance to get to Gatomon while Patamon was out of the way! Furious with himself, he shut his eyes and charged forwards blindly - and collided with Patamon's backside.

"Veemon, what do you want now?" Patamon demanded, irritably. "You've been complaining ever since we started."

"If you weren't so annoying I wouldn't have anything to complain about!" Veemon snapped back.

"Me? What have I done? I can't help it if my wings get in the way, stupid."

"Oh come on, you're always acting like you're the best, just because you did all this four years before we did."

"I do not! And Gatomon's been with the digidestined for as long as I have."

"And that's another thing, how come you're always so friendly with Gatomon?" the blue monster demanded.

"Because we're _friends._" Patamon said, exasperated.

"Deep worms, shut up." Wormmon growled. "I've had about as much as I can take of you two. Just be quiet, please. It's terribly annoying."

Veemon and Patamon, both stunned, nodded and turned their attention back to the climb. Armadillomon had turned around and signaled for them to be silent and stay where they were. He dug his claws into something above his head and with a slight scraping sound a hole opened with a faint light streaming through. One by one, the digimon scrambled out. Next to the exit was a sack, which Armadillomon had moved aside. They emerged into a narrow, dark space full of various boxes; the ceiling seemed to be very far away.

"What is this place?" Patamon wondered.

"Beats me." Veemon replied, sniffing at a box.

"No idea." Wormmon agreed, investigating the sack.

"I know where we are!" A grinning Armadillomon popped up from behind a stack of boxes, his face smeared with something sticky. "We're in a storeroom for food! This is Phantomon's pantry."

Wormmon emerged from the sack holding a couple of potatoes. Veemon realized what was in the boxes and immediately began to rip a couple of them open. 

"Wait a moment!" Patamon held his hands out towards the others. "We can't just rip things open and eat what we like. Someone might notice, and then we'd be in real trouble."

"Well what do you think we _should_ do?" Veemon asked, with only a trace of sarcasm.

"Maybe we should see if we can get out." Patamon suggested, fluttering upwards and pushing against the doors with absolutely no result. "Locked, I'm afraid."

"If we can't get out, we could at least raid this place for food." Armadillomon grinned.

"I suppose it might be a minor distraction to Phantomon if he ran out of something." Wormmon said, slowly.

"Anything we can do to help!" Patamon smiled. But the smile disappeared when he peered through the keyhole. "Let's get out of here, someone's coming!"

So the four digimon left their discovery behind and Armadillomon pulled the sack of potatoes back over the hole - but not before he had nicked a few bags of Twisties.

******

Phantomon drifted into the kitchen, whistling to himself. Cooking was his favourite job out of all those he did at Mordremon's castle. He didn't have to do much for the prisoners' lunch, just throw a few dozen sandwiches together, bung 'em on a plate and deliver them to the hungry ones in the dungeon. He'd come back to do Mordremon's soup later, that took longer. She wasn't a fussy eater, but she could certainly appreciate good food.

The digimon sliced up the sandwiches with a few swipes of his scythe, then leapt forward to keep one of them from toppling over. That kid with the goggles sure had a decent appetite, he always wanted tons of stuff on his sandwiches. What was his name again? Something weird like Danish. Now those girls, Kari and Yoyo, they hardly ate a thing. Strange creatures, children.

As Phantomon balanced the sandwiches on the wobbling tray and headed for the door, he stopped suddenly and listened intently. He could have sworn he heard something rustling in the pantry... but the kitchen was silent. He must be hearing things. How could anything get into that cupboard when he always had it locked?

******

Armadillomon had barely finished shoving the stone slab back in to cover the tunnel when the entire group heard the rattle of keys as Phantomon floated lazily down the stairs to the large grille that was the door to their prison.

"Ah, you are hungry, my little friends?" Phantomon asked as the door swung open.

"We're not little and we're not your friends." Davis snarled, curling his hands into fists. "And I'm certainly not hungry!"

Then the goggled one's stomach growled rather loudly.

Everyone laughed along with Phantomon as Davis' face grew red. Annoyed, humiliated and cranky, Davis grabbed one of the larger sandwiches off Phantomon's plate and stuffed the whole thing angrily into his mouth. When he choked and started coughing everyone laughed all the more, although Kari kindly strolled over and whacked him on the back - laughing all the while.

"Well, I might just leave you lot to it, then." Phantomon remarked, placing the tray on a small table in the corner. "You certainly seem capable of amusing yourself."

TK snorted with laughter as Phantomon locked the grille door behind him, hiding a smile as he drifted back up the stairs. Those humans weren't so bad, really. A pity they had to be kept locked up.

Ken grinned after Phantomon. He was a pretty decent digimon, really. A pity he had to work for Mordremon.

Then Ken turned his attention back to Daisuke, who had stopped choking but was still eating rapidly. So were Veemon and Armadillomon, though that was to be expected. But then, all the digimon seemed to be eating a lot. Was it harder for them to maintain their energy in this strange castle? Did the absence of the digivices sap their power in some way? Anything was possible in the digital world.

Realizing that there were only a few sandwiches left on the plate, Ken abandoned his theorizing and decided that it might be better to grab some food - while it was still there!

Half an hour later, Davis was lying in his bed (yes, it's a four star dungeon and they don't have to sleep on the floor. It also has a bathroom complete with leaky taps to keep you awake all night!) with a severe case of indigestion. Phantomon still hadn't come back, so Davis would probably be rolling around in agony for quite some time.

"They probably don't have much in the way of medicine here anyway." Kari remarked.

Davis groaned again and stuffed his head under a pillow.

"Sorry to tell you this, Kari, but I don't think Davis found that very comforting." Gatomon told her, dryly.

"Well, I wouldn't want him to be disappointed if he gets told that there's nothing we can do to help." Kari shrugged.

"Kari?" Davis lifted his head from under the pillow and glared at her. "Do me a favour. Go away."

As Kari stormed off, offended, Ken tried not to laugh as he sat down next to his friend.

"I think you've just about ruined your chances with Kari, my dear Daisuke." he grinned.

"Oh, shut up." Davis grumbled. "Who cares about Kari, anyway?"

"You do." Veemon replied, promptly. "Or you used to, anyway."

"Yeah, well, she's being annoying today."

"Ah, but we all have our bad days." Ken smiled.

"I suppose you'd know, wouldn't you?" Davis remarked. He instantly regretted it when he saw the dark look on the other boy's face. "Hey, Ken, I didn't mean-"

"I know, Davis." Ken said, quietly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to walk off like Kari did." he smiled. "I think you're having a bad enough day as is."

"Too right I am." Davis fell back onto the pillows with a sigh. "Ken, could you do me a favour?"

"Sure thing, Davis."

"Get me a glass of water, will you?"

"No problem." Ken strolled into the bathroom. Then a moment later, there was an exclamation and Ken walked quickly back out. "Davis, we don't _have_ any glasses!"

"Now you get it." Davis winked and Veemon giggled. "Guess even a genius will make mistakes."

Ken glared for a moment, then burst out laughing as well. They had to get what laughs they could whilst they were trapped with nowhere to go.

******

Phantomon, completing his lunchtime duties, delivered a bowl of soup to Mordremon up in her tower. She was watching intently out of one of the windows and sipped the soup absentmindedly.

"Thanks, Phantomon." she said, vaguely, not even looking his way. When he hesitated at the door, she turned and glared. "Well, don't wait around, get going!"

Phantomon needed no second bidding and vanished as quickly as he had arrived. Cronomon dropped down to perch next to her mistress.

"Uh, may I ask a question, Darcy?" the bird queried.

"Don't call me that." Mordremon growled. "You don't know who's listening, you know. If I can see what the children are doing, then someone could just as easily know what we do."

"Sorry." Cronomon muttered. "I just wanted to know why you're not attacking the digidestined while they're asleep."

Mordremon shrugged. "It wouldn't really be fair on them, would it? Give them a chance to fight."

"That's what you told Tauromon," Cronomon muttered, "and where is he now? Gone! Dead!"

"Tauromon fought as well as he knew how. With rage. Besides, he'll be back. They all come back. No matter what you do, things in the digiworld always come back." she said, bitterly, and turned away from the window.

"They won't if you succeed." Cronomon pointed out.

"We still have a while to wait before then." Mordremon ruffled the bird's feathers fondly and looked up at the stars on the ceiling. The ring of six were right next to the digivices now, but still had a little way to travel.

"You aren't like the other evil digimon that have tried to take control, are you?" Cronomon asked, looking sideways at her mistress.

"Well, I don't think any other digimon ever thought of things other than world domination." Mordremon replied, dryly.

"No, it's more than that." Cronomon shook her head. "Myotismon or the Dark Masters would have destroyed the children by now. There have been enough opportunities. Look at them right now, sleeping there at the edge of the forest as if there were not a thing that could harm them. You could be rid of these children, right now, but you don't."

"All those evil ones that have been before me - Devimon, Myotismon, the Dark Masters - they were cowards." the girl spat. "They were afraid to take the risk of playing fair. If they were fair then they might lose."

"So they attacked the digidestined when they would have trouble putting up a good defence."

"And lost anyway." Mordremon pointed out.

"Yes, I suppose that's a point." Cronomon admitted. "But if they were unfair and still managed to lose, then isn't it even easier for you to lose while you're being fairer on the children?"

"Why should it?" Mordremon's asked, excitedly. "Have you never thought that maybe being unfair was the mistake that all those other digimon made? That the way to success isn't ruthlessness, but in mercy? Well, a little mercy." she thought. "Too much and I might not be able to go through with all this."

"If I may be so bold," Cronomon ventured, "May I ask _why_ you are doing this? Ending the cycle of digital life?"

"You may certainly be bold, Cronomon." Mordremon nodded approvingly. "And it is a good question. you have every right to know the answer."

"Which is..?"

"That eternal life is not all it's cracked up to be." Mordremon said, shortly and bitterly. Cronomon wisely made no reply.

"What are we going to do next, mistress?" the bird asked, at last.

"You don't have to call me 'mistress', you know." Mordremon smiled. "Since the children have reached the forest, I suppose you'd better go and tell Serpentmon to-"

"No need, Missstresss." Said a drawling voice, and Serpentmon's head appeared suddenly just outside the window. Her thick reptilian body was coiled around the tower and she swung her head slightly as she spoke.

"Nice to see you're so punctual, Serpentmon." Mordremon said, trying to hide her surprise.

"I do my best." The huge head nodded slowly.

"Good to hear." Mordremon replied. "It'd time for you to have a shot at the digidestined. Be fair on them, but don't be too easy. They're incredibly powerful."

"Yes, I noticed." the snake said, looking away suddenly. "I saw what happened to Tauromon."

"We all grieve for Tauromon, my friend." Cronomon whispered.

"Tauromon was a great fighter!" Serpentmon looked up again, her eyes burning with emotion. "I cannot fight the way he did, but I shall try to be equally useful the way he was."

"In that case you are already doing well." Mordremon said, "Good luck, Serpentmon, and remember to fight fair."

"As always, mistress." Serpentmon nodded once more, then slithered away out of sight.

"That snake isn't what she seems either, you know." Cronomon commented.

"None of us are." Mordremon replied.

~~~~~~

Hope you enjoyed that chapter. It wasn't what I originally planned, but I'm glad that I wrote that in now. I'll be back next week or the week after with another chapter. See you then!


	11. One of those days

Disclaimer: I think after chapter 15 I'll stop writing a full disclaimer and just put ditto marks. Because by then, everyone should have figured out the extremely obvious fact that I DON'T OWN DIGIMON.

Right, now after that brief interval, we're getting back to the older digidestined, who were my main reason for writing this in the first place. Thanks to ff.net's regular stuff ups (they actually lost my author profile for a minute there!) I've had plenty of time to just write, which should explain why I also have two new fics up.

**Chapter 11 - Thinking... thinking... thinking...**

"Hey, you, wake up!" a gruff voice said.

Tai groaned, still half asleep, and rolled over. Unfortunately this meant that he was lying almost on top of Koromon and had pinned down one of the digimon's ears.

"Yowch!"

Koromon woke with a start and tried to leap into the air, but found one of his ears was trapped, and whipped back to slam into Tai's face. Tai scrambled to his feet with a lot of unnecessary noise, waking several of the others up. Tsunomon also jumped up to help Koromon, which caused a few difficulties since he was in Matt's arms at the time. Matt himself roared with pain as Tsunomon's horn stabbed his nose. Tsunomon, of course, turned around and began pouring out profuse apologies while Matt staggered upright. By now almost everyone else was awake and adding to the chaos; Joe took about half a second to lose his glasses and Tentomon had flown at full speed into a tree.

"QUIET!!!" a voice roared, and Tai remembered what had woken him in the first place. As silence fell upon the group, they all turned to the edge of the ruined Labyrinth to see a very grumpy looking projection of Gennai (the old Gennai - I liked him better when he looked ancient).

"Er... sorry about that, Gennai." Izzy mumbled with an embarrassed grin. "We were kinda tired, so we thought we'd have a sleep, and then I suppose -"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Gennai interrupted. "I'm not here to tell you off, I'm here to help you."

"That's a relief." Sora said, "We certainly need it."

"Yes, well, we're not all at our best in the morning." Gennai nodded at Tai, whose shirt was ripped, and Matt whose nose had started to bleed.

After the digidestined had gotten themselves organised (Joe found his glasses and Izzy extracted Tentomon from the tree) Gennai finally managed to deliver his message.

"You've done very well so far, defeating Tauromon," he began, "He was the only Mega digimon out of all those guarding Tauromon's castle. Serpentmon, Kappamon and Banemon are all Ultimates."

"Well, they should be a piece of cake!" Tai grinned. "If we can beat a Mega the the others shouldn't be any trouble."

"Don't bet on it." Gennai shook his head. "Tauromon is the only one of the four that needs to use the power of a Mega digimon. He relies entirely on brute strength and wild rage. The other three have other, more subtle gifts that use skill and tactics rather than out-and-out destruction."

"You mean they'll be harder to beat than Tauromon?" Mimi said, clutching Tanemon tightly. "He was awful. So angry. And he just never stopped fighting."

"Yes, that was probably Tauromon's greatest virtue." Gennai nodded. "He ignored every instinct to give up and kept on fighting. Believe it or not, he was very loyal, too."

Gomamon made a face and shook his head. "Sorry, but I have a hard time believing that."

"Not loyalty in the way you know it," Gennai smiled. "He was loyal to his master, Mordremon. All of her servants are."

"Yes, I noticed that," Sora nodded. "Usually when you find a digimon that's working for another, they're scared of the master and that's practically the only reason they obey. But Tauromon seemed to really like Mordremon as another digimon, not just as a superior."

"I'm not sure that Mordremon _is_ a digimon." Gennai frowned. "Not a digimon that we know of, anyway."

"Yes, I've wondered about that too." Izzy agreed, eagerly, "When we first saw Mordremon, the digimon analyzer didn't have any information on her. Couldn't even tell me what level she was at."

"What could she be if she isn't a digimon?" Biyomon wondered.

"It's a mystery to me," Gennai shrugged. "But right now I think you have things to worry about other than her. You still need to get through this forest, across the lake and up the mountain before you will see Mordremon again. There are many digimon you must fight along the way, too. Izzy, I've loaded another map onto your computer, covering Mordremon's realm."

"Guess it's time to get going." said Matt, looking at his bloodstained shirt (or it would be, if it wasn't black, and things don't really show up on black...) "The sooner we get to the lake, the sooner I can clean up."

"There's a fair way to go before you get to the lake," Gennai interrupted. "You have to get through this forest, and it's controlled by-"

Suddenly, the image of Gennai flickered and vanished.

"Where'd he go?" Tai asked, looking around wildly.

"It's not like him to just vanish like that." Izzy frowned. Tentomon, who was vaguely buzzing around, slightly dazed by his collision with the tree, suddenly smashed into the back of Izzy's head as he caught sight of something moving in a distant stand of trees.

"Tentomon, watch where you're going!"

"But I saw something... over there," the bug pointed with one claw.

Peering into the shadowy woods, the others could see something sliding along the ground. There was a slithering, rustling sound and a hissing breath. Then, out of nowhere, the head of a giant snake emerged from a nearby bush and arched up over their heads.

"Sorry I had to cancel that conversation," Serpentmon lisped at the petrified children. "but it was beginning to bore me. Doesn't that old fool ever say anything worth hearing?"

"If all you want is entertainment, you should try cable TV." Matt snorted. "It's more fun that EAVESDROPPING ON PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS!!!!11" (yes, I know the 1s don't really apply, but _you_ try telling that to Yamato...)

"Private?" the serpent's eyes widened. "Don't be silly, that wasn't private. That dusty old fossil was just about to mention me, and I have a right to know when people are talking about me!"

"He said nothing about you!" Koromon protested.

"I said, he was about to." the snake's tongue flicked out and her eyes narrowed. "He was just about to mention who controls this forest, and that happens to be me."

"Oh, so you're the one we have to beat to get out of here!" Tai shouted, leaping up. "Well let me tell you, we're not going to make it easy. We won't just be scared by a show off like you!"

"Er... yeah, right." Mimi murmured, backing away with Tanemon in her arms.

"Show off?" the snake smiled dangerously, but sank her head down so that she could look Taichi in the eyes. "I never expected to win by a show of force, my dear."

"Why'd you do it, then?" Gomamon asked, looking confused.

Serpentmon flicked her tail about carelessly. "I thought you might like us to be properly introduced, that's all."

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "And evil digimon with manners. That's something new."

"Um, excuse me, Serpentmon." Mimi crept forwards. "You seem to be a sensible sort of digimon, and I was just wondering, do you think you could just _let _us through the forest? I mean, we only want to get past to help our friends at Mordremon's castle, and fighting is _such_ a waste of time. And so messy! I mean, it would ruin all those lovely scales of yours."

The others held their collective breaths as Serpentmon looked at Mimi curiously. "So, girl, you think that being a sensible and polite digimon, I'm also won over by flattery?"

"Uh..."

"Well, _you're wrong!!!"_ Serpentmon shot up above the level of the trees, a full third of her body lifted off the ground. "I may be well mannered, but I don't let you off at any cost. I would never betray my master in any way."

"Please, _please_ don't attack us right now." Joe pleaded, looking up at the enormous snake.

"Attack you now?" Serpentmon bared her fangs in what the children later discovered was laughter. "No, I would not want to defeat you yet. I do not opt for the easy way out. No, I play a longer, harder, more interesting game than that. I will see you again, children. Take care."

And with that, she plunged down into the forest and out of sight.

*****

The children didn't have long to wait before Serpentmon began her 'game'. They had barely begun their trek into the forest when a low snarl rippled through the trees.

"What, exactly, was that?" Sora wanted to know.

"I'm not entirely sure." Izzy muttered, tapping away at his computer once again. "My digimon analyzer doesn't really pick up sounds, but I think it could be a-"

"Whatever it is, it'll probably be walkover." Tai dismissed Izzy's worried expression.

"But Tai, in this sort of forest, the digimon could easily-"

"Don't worry, Izzy, we can handle it."

"But they've probably got-"

"For the last time, Izzy, we'll be fine!"

Just then, five large Tyrannamon crashed through the trees and surrounded the digidestined. The sound of digivolving monsters drowned out any attempts at speech, but even so, Tai thought he heard Izzy yelling 'I told you so!'.

**(A/N At this point in time I have six champion digimon trying to beat the hell out of the Tyrannamon. Three of them (Koromon, Tsunomon and Tanemon) were at the In-training stage at the start of the chapter. They went to rookie somewhere in between. You figure it out.)**

The humans huddled together in the centre of the battlefield as the digimon fought around them. Greymon's lashing tail narrowly missed a tree as he wrestled with one of the monsters. Garurumon and Ikkakumon had teamed up to try to take another down, but the red beast was still fighting valiantly. Togemon was having a little more trouble with the dinosaur she had chosen to attack, as its leathery hide didn't seem to be affected by her Needle Spray.

The humans leapt aside as one of the red dinosaurs skidded along the ground towards them, having been knocked over at last. Several of those watching gasped in amazement as Birdramon locked her talons around the creature's middle and actually managed to lift him about a metre off the ground. As the monster thrashed about in fright, she was forced to release it, but it backed off and was reluctant to begin fighting again.

"I think this may be getting a little dangerous." Izzy commented, backing into Matt in an effort to get as far away from the monsters as possible.

"A little?" Joe replied, sidestepping as Garurumon's tail cracked like a whip. "Not exactly one to panic, are you?"

"I hate to point this out," Sora pointed out, "but somehow our side don't seem to be doing to well!"

"How could we be losing?" Mimi demanded, "There are more of our digimon than there are Tyrannamon."

"Maybe our digimon are a bit out of shape." Matt suggested, a grim expression on his face. "I mean, these six haven't done any serious fighting for years, even though we discovered how to get back here to digiworld. Without us around, they couldn't digivolve and fight the hard-core sorts of battles that we used to."

"I suppose that's a possibility," Izzy frowned, "but we don't exactly have time to whip them into shape, do we?"

"Don't worry about it, we'll be fine!" Kabuterimon roared.

Then a Tyrannamon grabbed his head, threw him at the approaching Greymon and winked at the two other monsters who tossed an exhausted Birdramon onto the pile. The red creatures snorted and chucked a few fireballs at the other digimon as they struggled to get up and fight back.

"We're getting slaughtered!" Joe groaned, shaking his head. "This is awful, what are we going to do?"

One Tyrannamon had Garurumon by the scruff of his neck and had pinned the wolf against a tree. With a strangled gasp, he glowed for a moment before becoming Gabumon and sliding slowly down the trunk of the tree and collapsing on the ground. Ikkakumon was soon to follow, his awkward bulk making it hard for him to avoid the relentless attacks of the reptilian monsters. Gomamon crawled slowly and carefully across the battlefield to the apparent safety of the humans' little huddle. Gabumon, however, could barely move and it was Matt who had to take the risks to reach the tree where he lay in a crumpled heap of fur.

As Birdramon escaped into the air, leaving Kabuterimon and Greymon on the ground, one of the three Tyrannamon that had been guarding them grabbed her talons and tried to yank her back to the ground. Togemon, who was already trying to fend off two monsters, gave an outraged roar and leapt forward to defend the struggling bird, somehow bringing a little energy back into the battle. Birdramon, Kabuterimon and Greymon all assisted her in attacking the five reptiles, but somehow Togemon seemed to do the most damage. It was strange how she was perfectly nice most of the time, but could suddenly become so violent.

"Like human, like digimon." Sora muttered, then grinned nervously as she saw Mimi looking at her suspiciously. So unpredictable, these girls.

"Hey, Gabumon, you okay?" Matt asked, reaching his furry friend.

"I'll be fine. I suppose." Gabumon muttered, groggily.

"Good, now let's get you back with the others." Matt smiled.

"What others?" Gabumon asked, looking confused.

Matt stared in disbelief. "You know, the digidestined, the rest of us. Our group."

"The what?"

"That must have been some bump on the head!" Matt commented, still hardly able to believe what he was hearing.

"My head? What about my head?" Gabumon lifted a paw and started running it over the top of his head. "yes, I do seem to have a bit of a lump there, don't I?"

"No, stupid, that's your horn." Matt sighed.

"Oh." Gabumon looked confused.

"Look, we should just get moving so that we're out of the way of the fight. Can you stand up and walk?"

"I can try."

"Good, that's something." Matt rose to his feet and turned around.

He seemed to have momentarily forgotten the fight that was going on. Because if he had remembered, he probably wouldn't have stood up while there were several monsters thrashing about in anger / pain. He hardly had time to curse his own foolishness before the Tyrannamon's tail whipped out and knocked him senseless.

"Matt! Gabumon!" Tai roared, "You stinking monsters, you'll pay for that one, I'll come and fight you myself, just you wait and see!"

He wanted to run over and help them, but Sora and Izzy managed to hold him back for a moment.

"Tai, what exactly are you going to do to help?" Sora demanded.

"I... I could... I thought..." Tai stopped struggling and sighed. "Oh, I don't know."

"Exactly!" Izzy concluded. "There's nothing useful you can do and you'd only be putting yourself in even more danger. So I suggest you stop for a moment and think of something sensible."

Tai did try to think of a plan, but all he could see was the red tail smashing his friend into the ground. he was older and a little wiser than when he first became the leader, but he was still Tai, and some things would never change. After several minutes of thinking to absolutely no result, Tai did the one thing that almost never failed.

"Greymon! Digivolve!"

The Tyrannamon stopped and looked at Tai, then at the other digimon. They weren't stupid and they knew what was about to happen. They could see Tai's crest, and those of the other children, beginning to glow. It didn't take a Datamon to figure out that four Ultimate digimon would be harder to fight than four Champions. So the reptilian ones took action, not against the other digimon, but against the ones that gave them their power.

The digidestined, both human and digimon, thought it was a good sign that the Tyrannamon began to retreat, jogging into the trees and heading in different directions. For some reason, it didn't occur to them that it was most unusual for any digimon to run away from a fight simply because its opponent was digivolving.

With an earth-shattering crack, a tree standing near the humans began to topple over, cutting them off from their digimon. Several other trees were uprooted and fell, enclosing Tai, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Joe and Gomamon in a cave of sorts as more trees were piled on top. In their panic, the humans had briefly forgotten their digimon companions, who were helpless as they were still halfway through digivolving. Unable to continue to the Ultimate stage, the four digimon still in the fight (Greymon, Birdramon, Kabuterimon and Togemon in case you've lost count) had to resume their Champion forms once more and fight the reptiles that outnumbered them alone, without assistance from the humans. This was going to be one very tough little battle.

******

Tai woke up to find himself in darkness. He stood up very quickly, banged his head on something, swore, then sat back down again.

"Please, watch your language, Taichi." said Izzy's voice from somewhere in the darkness.

"Where are you, Izzy?" Tai shouted. His voice echoed around the wooden prison, and behind him he heard Joe, Sora, Mimi and Gomamon yawning and grumbling their complaints.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Tai could see Izzy crawling along the ground near the edge of one of the fallen trees, seemingly examining them. Why he'd do that, Tai didn't have a clue, but he did know that they had to get out of there.

"What happened, Izzy?" the Joe asked, crawling towards the other kid. "Why were we asleep?"

"For a start, the Tyrannamon dropped a few trees on us." Izzy said, grimly. "They did their job well, too. We're completely enclosed in this one place, and it's going to be tough finding a way out."

"Tyrannamon!" Sora exclaimed, jumping to her feet, hitting her head and dropping back down with a muttered curse.

"Like I said to Taichi - watch your language." Izzy frowned.

"Aw, come on, Izzy!" Gomamon protested, "It's PG13, we can say these things. Don't be so stuffy, you sound like Sora's mother."

"How do you know what my mum sounds like?" Sora asked suspiciously.

"Ah... never mind." Gomamon mumbled.

"What were you saying about Tyrannamon, Sora?" Mimi asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, yeah." Sora's eyes widened. "How long were we out for? Are our digimon okay? Have they been fighting the Tyrannamon the whole time?!"

"There's another question." Tai said, thoughtfully. "Why were we asleep, anyway?"

"Maybe I should start from the start." Izzy began. "The rest of you don't seem to remember, for some reason.  
"When the Tyrannamon dropped the trees on us, they didn't just stop at that. They took some care to seal us off completely and confine us in a very small area. This place was actually airtight."

It took a few moments for the others to comprehend what Izzy had just said.

"So you mean that we would have run out of air?" Joe blurted.

"Exactly. That's why you all fell asleep, because we were running out of air." Izzy nodded, grimly. "Somehow I managed to stay awake a little longer and scraped a few holes between the branches that those Tyrannamon pulled together. You were all asleep for so long, for a while I was afraid..."

"Don't worry about it, Izzy." Mimi replied, quietly. "We're okay now."

"But we have to get out of here!" Tai, once again, tried to jump to his feet and managed to hit his head. This time, however, he had the sense to keep his mouth shut.

"We really need to help our digimon, Izzy." Sora went on, guessing what was on Tai's mind. "If they were in trouble before, I hate to think what they're like now."

"Actually, they're doing okay." Izzy announced, surprising them all. "Matt gave be a full report just ten minutes ago. Greymon and Togemon de-digivolved and Birdramon and Kabuterimon carried them up out of reach of the Tyrannamon. They've been dive-bombing the monsters ever since."

"And where's Matt, anyway?" Tai demanded. "Why didn't he help us out?"

"The Tyrannamon won't let him or Gabumon anywhere near us." Izzy shrugged. "He just sneaks up when they're not looking."

"Like now, for example." Although the voice was muffled by the wood, it was still Matt. "Nice to see that the rest of you are awake and well."

"Matt?" they heard Gabumon ask, "Who are these people?"

"I'll introduce you later." Matt sighed.

"And why, exactly, do you _need_ to introduce us?" Mimi asked with a dangerous edge to her voice.

"Don't ask." Matt groaned. "I'll tell you later. Look, our reptilian adversaries have traveled quite a way away, so you might want to try digging out now."

"Sure thing, Matt, I'll get right to it." Gomamon said, and immediately started digging. The other kids trapped under the log moved out of the way as dirt flew everywhere.

"See you later!" Matt said, over the sound of Gomamon's claws scraping the earth. "Gabumon and I have to go back to playing dead."

Izzy backed into a corner and heard the crunching footsteps grow fainter. He was relieved that the others hadn't asked too many questions. They did ask quite a few, but not the ones that he was so afraid to answer. Even he didn't really know what had happened back when he first realised that they were suffocating. The fear at realising what the others had not, and trying to fight the drowsiness... and losing. Of course, that wasn't what he told them. Izzy hardly believed the truth himself. Voices in his head... it wouldn't be strange for things like this to happen in the digiworld, but such a far-fetched explanation coming from the scientific Koushiro Izumi... it would be too strange.

The boy opened his computer and tried to push the memories of that strange experience from his mind. Maybe he'd find out one day. Maybe he wouldn't. It was probably best not to dwell on such things. And yet...

He quickly started typing, attempting to calculate how long it would take for Gomamon to dig through to the other side of their prison. It was something to do. He had almost begun to stop worrying when another thought hit him:

_Why didn't the others remember?_

A little while later, Gomamon emerged from his hole in the ground, completely covered in dirt.

"All done!" he announced, his grinning teeth a strip of white in his blackened face. "Let's get out of here!"

"Woo hoo!" Tai looked as though he would jump into the air, but he stopped just in time, remembering where he was and sat back down.

Izzy smiled to himself. Even a boof head like Tai could learn.

******

The sun had just begun to sink below the horizon when the kids crawled out of their wooden prison. Looking skyward they could see Birdramon and Kabuterimon circling and random bursts of flame lighting up the area.

"Guess we'd better go help them." Tai started off towards the sounds of battle, the fearless leader once again.

Everyone immediately followed him - except for Joe, who had somehow lost his glasses in the dirt. Gomamon sighed impatiently as his human companion scrambled about.

"Don't you ever stop dropping things, Joe?" he complained. "And if you have to drop things, do you have to do it right in the middle of some emergency?"

"I didn't choose to be clumsy, pal." Joe growled, standing up. Like his digimon, he was now almost completely covered in dirt.

"Two of a kind, eh?" Gomamon grinned.

"Look I try not to lose things and I try not to be late for everything," Joe said, "but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. I'm just naturally hopeless."

"Now, c'mon, it's not that bad." Gomamon replied, slightly alarmed by Joe's outburst.

"Yes it is!" Joe howled "How am I supposed to be 'Old Reliable' if I can't even be relied on to turn up when I'm needed?"

"Joe, we really don't care!" Gomamon shouted. "I mean, we don't care if you're late sometimes, not we don't care about you, although there probably are people that don't care about you but they obviously don't know you very well because anyone who knows you would care about you so-"

"I get the point." Joe cut off Gomamon's useless babbling.

"You don't have to always be perfectly punctual to be reliable." Gomamon finished, with a weak grin.

"I'd like to be, though." Joe said, looking a little disappointed.

"Tell you what." Gomamon said, "Why don't I help you out a bit, so that you're not so late all the time?"

"That might be good." Joe grinned.

"Okay then!" Gomamon grinned, "From now on we aren't going to miss a single thing!"

Just then there was an explosion of light from the scene of the battle and MetalGreymon, MegaKabuterimon, Garudamon and Lillymon rose above the trees and started to battle all over again.

"Starting from tomorrow." Joe smiled, as he clambered onto Zudomon's back and they set off through the trees. (Hey, you know how I hate writing in the digivolving part)

******

At last the digidestined seemed to be gaining some sort of advantage in the battle against the Tyrannamon. The Ultimate level digimon helped a lot, as there were now five of them fighting. Although both the digidestined monsters and their reptilian rivals seemed rather tired after the day's fighting.

"Hey, Matt." Tai popped up beside his blue-eyed friend with a wide grin. "good to see you again."

"You too, Tai." Matt smiled. "Gabumon, this is my best friend, Tai. He's our leader."

"Nice to meet you, Tai." Gabumon held out his paw for Tai to shake. The boy didn't take it.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Tai asked in disbelief.

"No, I'm afraid not." Matt shook his head sadly. "Gabumon has completely lost his memory."

"Weird." the other boy commented. "And you can't get him to remember? He doesn't recognise us?"

"I just introduced him to you. Do you really think I'd do that if he knew you?"

"Good point." Tai frowned. "Well, why doesn't he digivolve and go fight while we're waiting."

"He doesn't know how." Matt shrugged.

"Couldn't he just fight as a rookie digimon?"

"He doesn't even remember how to fight!" Matt sighed, exasperated.

"Bummer." Tai commented. Then he cringed as a few of the battling digimon came dangerously close. "Say, why don't we get up into the trees? It could be safer."

"Good idea." Matt nodded. "Oi, Sora! Mimi!" he shouted to the girls. "Tell Izzy to get rid of that computer and get into the trees. It's safer!"

"Gotcha." Sora nodded curtly and dragged Izzy off the ground while gesturing to Joe to jump off Zudomon's back and into the trees.

"Uh, I don't know..." Joe mumbled, reaching tentatively for a branch.

"Come on, Joe, don't be a wimp." Mimi growled.

"I'm not a wimp! I just don't think I can-"

Joe wasn't given much of a choice. The fifth Tyrannamon suddenly launched itself at Zudomon, throwing Joe right off. He managed to grasp a branch and drag himself upwards, clinging like a leech.

"You'll be fine, Joe." Sora reassured him.

"Easy for you to say, you're on the ground." Joe mumbled.

"Well, look at Izzy." Mimi pointed at the younger kid, who was sitting in the fork of the tree, busily working away on his computer.

"Tai and Matt are trying to drag Gabumon into the tree with them." Sora grinned. "He seems to have forgotten how to climb."

"Oh, I suppose it might not be that bad." Joe mumbled, sitting up.

"That's more like it." Sora smiled approvingly, grabbed a branch and began to haul herself up bit by bit. It wasn't until she was several metres off the ground before she realised that Mimi wasn't following her.

"What're you waiting for, Meems?" she yelled. "This tree doesn't have an elevator, you know."

"In case you hadn't noticed," Mimi snapped, "I'm not exactly dressed for tree-climbing."

"You should have known better than to wear a skirt ten inches long in the digiworld." Sora snorted. "Stop wasting time, no-one's going to perv on you."

"Easy for you to say! And my skirt is _not_ ten inches long."

"No, it's shorter!" someone shouted.

Sora just sighed and started back down. "Look, I'll help you if you really want."

"No, don't worry about it, I'll be fine." Mimi dismissed Sora's offer and immediately started to climb.

"Are you sure? I mean, I understand that you might not be very enthusiastic about this sort of thing..."

"I told you, I can do it myself. Now back off!"

Sora smiled to herself as Mimi settled on the branch next to her. The one in pink had always been a little proud.

It was well and truly dark now, as the digidestined stood cheering their monster companions on. It had been a long, tiring battle, but it seemed as though the end was in sight. The Tyrannamon were finally weakening. There were a round of cheers as two of the red-skinned reptiles were driven off into the forest. Without them, the battle seemed as though it had already finished.

The leader of the Tyrannamon group looked up, irritated by the celebrating humans. So confident, weren't they. The monster grunted in pain as it was struck a hefty blow from Garudamon's talons. Those humans... they were getting so annoying! Something would have to be done.

The monster neatly ducked Garudamon's next blow and sidestepped as MetalGreymon tried to cut it off. Tyrannamon quickly assessed the situation, took aim and fired - at the tree.

The six humans (plus Gabumon, who _could_ remember what fire was) immediately started yelling and screaming. Just as planned, their digimon turned to try to save them, scooping the humans out of the perilous branches. Joe returned to his position on Zudomon's shell, Lillymon swooped in and out again with Mimi in her arms and MegaKabuterimon grasped Izzy in one of his long arms. Garudamon, not bothered by the flames, took time to carefully collect Matt and Gabumon as well as Sora.  
MetalGreymon had extended his huge metal claw to bring Tai back to safety. Trapped among the burning branches, his ears filled with the cracking of charred wood, Taichi was only too happy to escape. He coughed as he started to clamber onto his digimon's claw, the smoke filling his eyes and nose and mouth. But through the haze and behind the bulky forms of the digimon, Tai could see other dark shapes, coming closer...

"NO!!" Without thinking, Tai grabbed one of the burning branches and ripped it off the tree. He leapt onto MetalGreymon's claw, ran up his arm and onto his head, launching himself out into space and swinging his firebrand into the face of the DarkTyrannamon that had planned this particular ambush.

Shocked that one of the humans had been able to hurt him, the monster shook his head violently then turned to run off into the forest. The two remaining Tyrannamon followed him, and MetalGreymon woke up just in time to catch Tai before he hit the ground.

No-one had much to say as all the digimon returned to their rookie forms and they watched the tree continue to blaze. Tai still held the branch he had used to attack the DarkTyrannamon. It was only Izzy who heard the rustling sound behind them and the low, rasping voice.

"Well done, brave children." Serpentmon whispered. "Well done indeed, although it is a pity to lose a tree like that. but tomorrow will bring a new challenge. Let's see if you can keep this up."

There were ominous rumbling sounds from the sky. The huge blaze began to die down. Tai's flaming torch hissed and went out as the skies opened and it started to rain.

~~~~~~

Well, that was fun! *looks around to see the three remaining readers fast asleep* Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad!

Was it?

Yeah, that chapter took me a long time to finish. Gomen! Although, I must say, I do know _some_ people that only update about three times a year. Do you think I try too hard, going for an update every single week? Ah, who cares, I'm babbling now. I think it goes without saying that I'd like you to review... but just for the record, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GIVE ME A REVIEW!!!


	12. ACHOO!

Disclaimer: I wish I could see Gundam Wing. I wish I could see the yaoi in Gundam Wing. I wish... er, maybe now's not the time. I think what I'm meant to say is that I don't own digimon. Now, about Gundam Wing...

Well, yes, I have been getting slack lately. It's nearly the end of school for the year, and although I don't have to have proper exams yet (thank Gabumon) there is still a really big rush to get work done before the end of the year. So, I haven't been updating as frequently.  
As for this chapter: as usual, things just spiral away out of control. I never intended to erase Gabumon's memory, and I never meant them to all end up sitting in burning trees (previous chapter) and I _definitely_ didn't plan the strange events of this chapter. And what are these bizarre occurrences? Read on, and ye shall find!

Oh, and by the way, I wish I could see Gundam Wing...

**Chapter 12 - Achoo!**

"Achoo!"

That was a sound that frequently echoed around the forest when the children woke up soaking wet from the rain last night and the dew this morning. Dead tired and wetter than they had ever thought possible, each of the twelve creatures, human and digimon, were a classic example from one of Joe's medical textbooks, in just the right condition to get sick. And they got sick.

"Achoo!"

"One of the bad things about having big hair, I suppose." Sora said to Tai over his rather loud sneezes. "It can hold an awful lot of water."

"You think?" Tai muttered, miserably. He grabbed a fistful of his messy hair and squeezed it viciously, spraying everyone around him with water.

"Aww, Tai!" Agumon complained, shaking a few drops of water from his head. "I'm trying to light a fire so we can all get warm, then you have to go and... Achoo!"

A breath of flame burst from Agumon's mouth as he sneezed and buried itself in a nearby bush, providing the shivering group with a decent blaze.

"Well, we got a fire." Agumon said, grinning sheepishly, as everyone dragged themselves over towards the warmth.

"Good on you." Mimi said, smiling weakly as Izzy helped her up. With her skimpy clothing she had been the worst hit and could barely move at all, just sitting or lying down, coughing and sneezing from time to time.

In fact, despite the good-natured joking around, it was a grim situation. There was nowhere to find shelter in the forest and without proper shelter, food and care the condition of the suffering kids would deteriorate rapidly. The only one who wasn't sick were Gabumon, and he really wasn't much help as he couldn't even remember his own name. Izzy, Tentomon and Gomamon, although they sniffled a bit, weren't to badly hit and could still help the others. And their help was definitely needed.

Izzy handed around a few fruits he'd found to everyone else for their breakfast. Although none were really hungry, he had to make sure they ate something. Biyomon kept fumbling and dropping hers then having to chase after it as it rolled away down the hill. After a while Sora got fed up and just stuffed a few handfuls of berries down the bedraggled bird's beak.

"Hey, Izzy, could I have a word?" Joe muttered as the redhead passed by.

"What's up, Joe? Am I doing okay? _Please_ tell me I'm doing this right." Izzy begged.

"Don't worry, you're doing fine." Joe smiled. And then he sneezed. "Sorry about that."

"No worries." Izzy smiled. "What's wrong?"

"Well, most of us will be okay after a while, I think." Joe remarked, thoughtfully. "Just a few days' rest and we'll be right. But I'm starting to worry about Mimi."

"I know what you mean." Izzy nodded, grimly. Mimi was lying right up near the fire, seemingly asleep. Several of the digimon had curled up against her, trying to keep the poor girl warm, but she was still shivering constantly.

"Maybe later you could take Palmon and a few others to search for something that can help her," Joe assured the younger boy, "but right now I think the best thing you could do would be to get some food into her."

"I've tried!" Izzy groaned. "She just won't eat a thing, there's nothing I can do about it."

"She won't eat fruit," Joe corrected him. "We've all been living on fruit for the last few days. We've got a fire, do you think you could whip up some hot food?"

"Yeah, hot food sounds good!" Matt agreed from his seat under a tree. "What for breakfast, Izzy?"

"Hang on, I can't cook!" Izzy protested. "There's nothing to cook things in, and nothing besides fruit to cook!" He paused for a moment. "And besides that, I can't cook!"

"Don't be silly, anyone can cook if they're hungry enough." Matt shook his head.

"I've got something you can cook in." Joe rummaged around in his bag (that good old faithful mega bag) and fished out what looked like a small tin bucket.

"What on earth is that?" Sora asked, puzzled.

"Oh, that's the thingy we brought back from Australia." Gomamon explained. "Whaddaya call it again?"

"A billy." Joe remarked, handing it to Izzy. "Used for boiling water, or vegetables, or just about anything, really." **(A/N Sorry, I just couldn't resist putting this in. I love camping, and you just can't go camping without a billy to put stuff in. And I _really_ love billy tea!)**

"And what, exactly, am I going to cook in this billy?" Izzy demanded.

"Here, I'll show you!" Gomamon waddled up. "Gabumon, put your fur back on and come over here.

Gabumon, who had been keeping Mimi warm but found it too hot near the fire and had taken his fur off, put the coat back on and hurried over to Gomamon. "Uh, yes?"

"Hold this, will you?" Gomamon handed the billy to Gabumon and positioned him underneath a tree. "Marching Fishes!"

A stream of water suddenly seemed to shoot out of a knothole in the tree, and three or four fishes with it. The fish and the water slopped into the billy, which Gabumon nearly dropped in surprise.

"I hope no-one objects to fish for breakfast." Gomamon said to his shocked audience.

"We're going to eat Marching Fishes?" the incredulous Palmon asked, distracted from Mimi for just a moment.

"Even you, Gomamon?" Tai asked.

"Hey, if it's food, I'm not complaining." Sora shrugged. She and Tai were the only ones who had actually been hungry that morning, which Joe and Izzy had taken for a good sign.

"Are you mad?!" Tai demanded. "We can't just eat those fish, after all they've done for us."

"Yeah, they're Gomamon's friends." Biyomon agreed.

"Well, maybe as friends they'd be willing to help Gomamon." Gabumon suggested. Everyone else just stared.

"Gabumon, letting a friend eat you just because they're sick of fruit is **not** an act of friendship." Matt said, at last.

"Oh. Ah... sorry." Gabumon apologized, looking perplexed. "There are many things I still do not understand. Like why you keep saying 'Achoo!' all the time.

"It's because we have colds, Gabumon." Joe explained. "Something that you will probably never have to worry about."

"Oh. Okay."

"I still don't think we should eat those fish." Agumon said, changing the subject back to their meals. "Think of all the times they've saved us."

"How do we know they're the same fish?" Sora pondered. "Is it the same fish that appear every time Gomamon calls them, or just whatever fish happen to be in the area?"

"So these fish could be total strangers." Matt nodded. "Would it be so bad to eat them then?"

"For Joe it would." Sora remarked. "He's probably allergic to them."

"Yes, but what about the rest of us?" Tai asked again. "We're the ones who will be doing the eating if we decide to cook them."

"Tai, you eat fish all the time back home!" Sora said, exasperated. "They're not digimon, there no different from the fish back home, which would probably also obey Gomamon, so I don't know what you're - achoo!"

"Please, stop fighting." Mimi whispered, during the brief silence. "I can't stand it. You'll only make yourselves worse."

"And anyway, Gomamon seems to have made up his mind." Palmon pointed to Tentomon, who was hovering above the fire holding the billy full of water and now dead fish.

"They are living creatures, like us." Gomamon shrugged. "And yes, they are my friends, although Sora was right, they're not smart like digimon are. But they won't be able to save the digiworld, which you will. Some things are more important than fish."

"And besides that, we were hungry." Tentomon added.

******

Tentomon spent the next half an hour or so hovering there with the billy full of fish, only landing to refill it every now and again. Everyone ate a little more, even Mimi, although Izzy had to practically shove it down her throat. As Izzy held the billy out for Gomamon to fill one last time, he noticed with some satisfaction that everyone but Gomamon, Tentomon, Gabumon and himself was sleeping soundly.

"One last pot for us." Tentomon said, with a happy sigh, manoeuvring the billy full of water and fish into position above the fire.

"Yes, my dear little fish." Gomamon nodded. "I don't know what you were all fussing about before, whether or not we should eat them. They're just fish."

"But they're your friends, aren't they?" Izzy asked, confused.

"I've eaten fish before. Fish is fish is fish, whether they can march or not." Gomamon rolled his eyes.

"Yes, another thing that confuses me: why do you call them _Marching_ Fishes?" Gabumon asked, scratching his ear absentmindedly. "They can't really march if they're fish, can they?"

"Well, it sounds good." Gomamon shrugged. "If I want them to obey me, I gotta sound good, don't I? I mean, would you want to take orders from someone who called you 'Stinky Furball'?"

"Are you saying my fur stinks?" Gabumon demanded.

"It was just a question!" Gomamon snapped.

"Take it easy," Izzy warned, "don't get too worked up. You don't want to be the next ones to get sick, do you?"

"I guess not," Gabumon nodded.

"I wonder why we're not as bad as everyone else?" Izzy wondered, sniffing as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. "Gabumon has that thick fur and Gomamon's used to water, but why aren't Tentomon and I as bad as the rest?"

"I think maybe being up here above the fire may have helped me." Tentomon suggested. "The heat has been immensely beneficial. I had a few sniffles earlier this morning, but now I feel fine. I think I could even-"

Tentomon stopped abruptly. The other three looked at him curiously, wondering what had happened. His face, as always, was totally expressionless, but if it wasn't it would probably look rather strange. As it is, all that happened was that he want cross-eyed and then -

**"Achoo!!!"**

Tentomon was blown straight up into the air by the force of his own sneeze - and the billy full of water and fish - flavoured breakfast went straight down, into the fire.

"Yaaaaahhhhhhhh!!" Gomamon cried, running around in a frenzy as several sparks leapt and singed his fur.

Immediately everyone was awake and the campsite was thrown into chaos as the fire started spitting flames at everyone and Gomamon ran around in circles with his tail on fire. The slightly clumsy human staggered around trying to catch the flaming digimon while the other digimon tried throwing various things on the raging fire.

"Er, Gabumon?" Biyomon stopped the blue one as he ran towards the fire. "I really don't think that's a good idea."

"But why not?" Gabumon froze, holding a handful of things above his head.

"Believe it or not, half a live shrub is not going to put out a fire." Biyomon replied, pointing at what Gabumon had been about to throw.

"Oh. Sorry." Gabumon apologized, dumping the junk on the ground. He pulled a toaster from the tangled mess and looked at it thoughtfully. "I suppose this wouldn't have helped much either, would it?"

"No." Biyomon said automatically, concentrating on her efforts to kick dirt on the fire. Then, "Hey, where'd you find a toaster?!"

Gabumon shrugged and tossed it over his shoulder, narrowly missing the frantic Gomamon but knocking Joe to the ground so that first Tai, then Matt, Sora and Izzy ran over the top of him. Finally Gomamon, still panicking, ran right over the top of Joe setting him on fire as well, and the two of them ran around blindly, bumping into things and making things worse.

Naturally, Gabumon didn't notice a thing.

"You know," Biyomon panted, covered in dirt, "this would be a lot easier if you just used your Blue Blaster."

"What's that?" Gabumon asked, looking confused.

"Your attack, stupid!" Biyomon snapped. "Oh, come on, don't tell me you forgot that as well!"

"Er, yeah." Gabumon answered, looking rather stupid. He just stood there for a minute or so. The fire got bigger. Biyomon got dirtier (I mean she got more dirt on her, you sickoes!). Joe and Gomamon ran around like to paranoid idiots who think the house is on fire every time the smoke alarm goes off, even though it's just their toast getting burnt and they happen to be in the kitchen at the time.

Finally Gabumon thought of something to say. "Biyomon, how do I use it?"

"Use what?" snapped the bird, giving him a dirty look.

"What do you think? Blue Blaster, of c-!" Gabumon stopped talking in shock as a stream of blue shot out of his mouth, put out the fire and ricocheted off a tree to hit Joe and Gomamon, who stopped running, looked at each other stupidly for a moment and then collapsed with exhaustion.

Gabumon stood as still as if he had been blasted by Cockatorimon, (we all remember what the big bad bird did, right? No, we don't? Well, he turned people and digimon to stone on occasions.) his eyes wide with shock.

"Not bad for a digimon who can't even remember Garurumon." Biyomon said with a wicked grin, whacking Gabumon on the back. "Not bad at all."

Tentomon was picking through the ashes of the fire. He fished out a small, flat, blackened object and peered at it closely, brushing a bit of black stuff off the end. Spearing the slightly foul - smelling thing on the end of his claw, he held it up and looked around. "Charcoal Marching Fish, anyone?"

******

"I can't believe you just took off like that," Tai shook his head, more at Joe than his monster. "Joe, you're supposed to be the smart one."

"Oh, and that means I can't panic?" Joe snapped, grabbing his jacket and wrapping it tightly around himself. "What would you have done."

Tai blushed suddenly and started stammering.

"It's okay, Tai." Matt grinned, enjoying his friends discomfort. "We all know _you_ don't have sensible hair on your head..."

"Shut up." Tai remarked, glowing an even deeper red.

"...which is quite an incredible feat, seeing as you have so many _other_ hairs..." Matt continued, drawing a few tentative giggles.

"Shut _up_, Yamato." Tai growled, pushing Matt away.

"Hey, watch it!" Matt pushed Tai back, all the laughter gone from his voice.

"Watch it yourself!" Tai growled. Everyone else tensed up, preparing to break up the imminent fight. But then...

"ACHOO!!" Taichi and Yamato sneezed at the same time, then grinned sheepishly.

"Maybe we should all get ourselves bundled up again." Sora suggested, grinning. "Izzy, where did you put the... Izzy? Where did he - oh no. Mimi!"

Sora scrambled away from the boys, cursing herself. How could she have forgotten Mimi? She hadn't even given a thought to the other girl whilst she was helping the others to chase Gomamon and Joe. And just look what had happened now.

Mimi wasn't looking too good. As she was so close to the fire to begin with, she had copped a lot of the sparks jumping from the blaze. She had a few nasty burns and her hair was a mess, but it was her clothes that were the real worry. Fortunately, she'd had her back to the fire, so it had only singed the back of her shirt. But it was still a mess and there were one or two quite large holes in the fabric.

Sora put an arm around Mimi's shoulders and heaved the other girl to her feet. Mimi's eyes flicked open for a second.

"Aw, Mu-um, do I have to get up?" she murmured, looking a little confused.

Sora looked at Izzy, just a little scared. "I'm not her mother!"

"No, but you look like her mother." Izzy replied, brightly, then instantly regretting it.

"You take that back!" Sora snapped, angrily.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Izzy quickly tried to make up for his mistake.

"I've never worn an apron in my life." Sora muttered. "_And _I'm a _ much_ better cook."

"_Please_ Mum," Mimi muttered, closing her eyes again. "I'll get up. Just stop fighting with Dad."

Sora and Izzy froze and stared at each other.

"_Dad!?_" Izzy repeated. "Okay, there's definitely something wrong with this girl."

"No, ya think?" Sora would have thrown her arms in the air with exasperation - except she was still holding Mimi up.

"I think she could be delirious." Joe suggested, wandering over to have a look. "Let her sit back down again. We'd better start up the fire too."

"Sure thing, Joe!" Agumon volunteered, running about. "C'mon, everyone, let's clean up this place."

As the digimon set to work cleaning up the old fire and finding more wood, Izzy, Sora and Joe settled Mimi on the ground as close to the fire as possible. Joe ripped off his heavy coat and draped it over the other girl.

"Well, what more can we do?" Sora asked, worriedly.

"She'll be okay for the moment." Joe looked grim. "It's only when night comes that there'll be trouble."

"Should we find somewhere else to - achoo!" Sora rubbed her nose and smiled ruefully. "Guess I'm not feeling great either."

"You should probably sit down as well," Joe agreed. And then coughed a bit. "We'll sit down here by the fire with Mimi. There's not much else we can do."

Izzy sighed inwardly. He knew what was coming.

"Izzy, I don't want to put any pressure on you," Joe began.

Yep, just as he suspected.

"Do you think you could go and look for some shelter, or maybe some friendlier digimon?" Joe asked, hopefully. "It would do us all good to have some shelter at night, but if Mimi spends another night out here she'll be in real danger. I don't know if... if we could save her if she spends another night outdoors."

Sora drew a sharp breath and even Izzy was shocked. He hadn't thought Mimi was really that sick. Well, he'd have to do something now.

"Sure thing, Joe." Izzy nodded, stepping aside as Agumon lit the fire again. "Tentomon, let's go!"

"Where are we going, Izzy?" Tentomon wanted to know.

"To find somewhere to spend the night. So Mimi can get better." Izzy told him.

"Do you think there are other digimon out there?" Palmon asked, coming up to sit next to Mimi.

"Perhaps." Sora shrugged. "I suppose some of them might be able to help."

"We'll ask around." Izzy smiled. "Well, see you later."

"Good luck!" Joe called after them.

"Hi, Michael!" Mimi exclaimed, opening her eyes and staring at Palmon. "So good to see you again. But -" she turned and looked at Joe. "Why did you bring your sister?"

Joe and Palmon stared at each other for a second.

"Izzy?" Joe yelled at the retreating figure.

"Yeah?" Izzy turned back for a second.

"HURRY!!!"

******

Serpentmon smiled thoughtfully to herself as she circled once more around the campsite and slithered off to follow the red-headed one and his pet bug. It seemed that the children had plenty of problems without her interference. It was only this one boy who was practically unharmed, and he was looking for help. Well, he was heading in the direction of the forest's one and only village. Well, maybe she could arrange for the visitors to give them a nice welcome...

******

It was midway through the afternoon when Izzy and Tentomon stumbled upon the little town. It seemed very quiet at first, the streets empty and the buildings locked. It wasn't a particularly gloomy town, like the one controlled my Machinedramon that they'd met the first time they visited the digiworld. But it wasn't exactly very welcoming either.

"Heloooooooooo?" Izzy called out. "Anyone there? We won't hurt you!"

"Especially if you have food!" Tentomon added.

"Tentomon!" Izzy scolded. "That's not going to help?"

"It will help us get some food." Tentomon argued. "And getting some food will help to fill my empty stomach. Which will help me to digivolve. Which will help -"

"Yes, but it's not likely to reassure whoever's hiding in this place." 

"So? We've found somewhere to take shelter, let's go back so that everyone else can get here."

"We have to check it out first." Izzy argued. "You never know what sort of digimon might already be here."

Tentomon fluttered off grumbling to himself and started peering through windows. Izzy, on the other hand, dashed down the street, quickly finding his way to the nearest phone and plugging in his computer.

"Now, let's see..." he said to himself, (geniuses just have to let the world know what they're doing) calling up Gennai's map and zooming in on the town, "If I run a scan on local life forms I should get an idea of where we can -" he stopped abruptly and stared at the map in disbelief. "No way! This place is swarming with life. They're just all hiding inside the buildings. But why would they -" he sucked in a sharp breath. "It's an ambush. Tentomon! Don't go near the buildings, it's a trap!"

But it was too late. Even before Izzy had cried his warning, hands had reached out of the window and dragged the little bug inside. As the boy burst out of the phone box, doors flew open and piles of small digimon swarmed out, overwhelming him.

"Izzy! They got you too?" Tentomon asked, carried along with the tide.

"'Fraid so." Izzy cried, fighting the wave of little monster trying to press him to the ground. "You have to digivolve!"

"I'm on it!"

A few seconds later, the little digimon were flying everywhere and Izzy felt himself being lifted out of the smothering mass by one of Kabuterimon's many- jointed arms.

"Get off the ground, quickly!" Izzy ordered.

Kabuterimon's wings buzzed into action and they lifted off the ground. But several of the smaller digimon were already clinging to Kabuterimon's legs and they began climbing up the building as soon as the Champion landed on the roof.

"Don't you ever stop?" Izzy asked in disbelief, clinging to Kabuterimon.

"Absolutely not." one of the digimon (one of the green ones - they looked a bit weird, the eyes were different sizes) answered. "We're under Serpentmon's orders, and none of us dares to disobey orders."

"You're very loyal, I see." Izzy went on, trying to stall them.

"Well... no, not really." another digimon replied. It was smaller than the first with only two limbs, which seemed to double as legs. "We're just a bit scared of Serpentmon, I suppose."

"She threatens you?" Kabuterimon asked, idly. That was how most evil digimon kept their minions under control.

"Well, no she doesn't, actually," one of the green ones answered, "but she's a very powerful digimon, and we've been used before. The digimon emperor controlled us once, and many years ago we were manipulated by DemiDevimon..."

"Hey, I fought DemiDevimon and Myotismon!" Izzy interrupted.

"Then you're one of the digidestined." a green digimon smiled. "What are you doing here, in the village? We almost never get visitors."

"I was looking for shelter and food and stuff." Izzy replied. "See, me and my friends were just passing through and there was a storm last night, so now they all have colds. Well, that wouldn't be so bad except that Mimi's gotten really... why are you looking at me like that?"

"Mimi?" one of them asked, in awe. "P-princess Mimi is... here?"

"_Princess_ Mimi?" Izzy and Kabuterimon said at once.

"Oh, yes." another answered "You are all welcome then! It is an honour to serve Princess Mimi and her friends."

Izzy shook his head in confusion. "Who _are_ you?!"

"We're the Gekomon!" a green digimon answered.

"And we're Otarumon." a smaller blue one added.

"And we _all_ love Princess Mimi!" they chorused.

Kabuterimon let go of Izzy and they both sat down abruptly.

"This has been some day." Izzy shook his head wonderingly (Hey, the guy's had a lot on his plate. And if you think back, he never came into direct contact with the Gekomon and Otarumon.).

"Is there some sort of problem?" a Gekomon asked.

"There is, as a matter of fact." Izzy admitted. "All of us got colds from getting wet in the storm last night. But Mimi... she's a lot worse. Joe thinks that if we don't get her some help soon, she might... well, it's pretty serious."

"Don't worry." a whole heap of digimon chorused.

"Yeah," said a particular Gekomon, who seemed to be a leader of sorts. "You lead the way, we'll follow. Then we can bring Princess Mimi and all your friends back here so you can recover."

"We even have shops full of supplies you can use for the rest of your trip." an Otarumon agreed.

"Alright then!" Izzy cried, leaping on Kabuterimon's back. "We'll fly ahead, you follow on foot."

"Sure thing, Mr. Izumi!" the head Gekomon saluted and started to clamber down the side of the building with the rest of the Gekomon/Otarumon army.

As the huge group squeezed through the narrow town gates and Kabuterimon rose into the air, one question hit Izzy with a shock - _how had that Gekomon known his name?_

******

The rest of the day had passed pretty quietly back at the digidestined camp. Mimi drifted between sleep and delirium. Gabumon ran around asking questions and banging his head on trees trying to get his memory back. Everyone else sat around sneezing occasionally. Business as usual.

"Hey, I think Mimi's waking up again." Sora commented.

"Great. I wish Izzy would hurry up. She's getting embarrassing." Joe muttered.

"You're just saying that 'coz you don't like being my sister!" Palmon accused him, sitting next to Mimi again.

"Oh, and you _enjoy_ playing Michael?" Joe shot back. Both of them had gotten sick of Mimi's mix-ups right away.

"Oh, go away." Mimi mumbled, absentmindedly. Then, "Michael, why'd you let her in anyway?"

"Um, I... just... had to." Palmon replied, lamely.

"Well, tell her to go. We have to go back to the digiworld now." Mimi murmured. "Where's Palmon?"

"Do you think we should just tell her you're right here?" Biyomon asked Palmon, thoughtfully.

"Palmon!" Mimi exclaimed, grabbing Biyomon and hugging her tightly.

"I was afraid this was going to happen," Biyomon sighed.

"Mimi, let Palmon go now." Sora told her. "She has work to do, okay?"

"Okay." Mimi nodded, closing her eyes again. "I'm going back to sleep. 'Night, Mum."

"Goodnight, sweetie." Sora said with a grin.

"You know, if I didn't know better," Biyomon said to Sora, "I'd think you were actually _enjoying_ playing Mimi's mother."

Sora blushed, unable to think of an answer, and turned around to watch Matt helping Gabumon, who had gotten his horn stuck in a tree.

"What I don't understand," said Tai, "Is how Gabumon got stuck to a tree anyhow."

"He was hitting his head on it." Agumon pointed out.

"I just thought that if I hit my head hard enough, I might get my memory back." Gabumon said, eyes closed in concentration.

"Well, now you know," Matt growled. "_It doesn't work._"

"Nice try, though." Tai shrugged. Then he leapt to the side as Gabumon's horn came free and he and Matt went flying backwards. They landed with a crash near in the pile of spare firewood

"What's that?" A scrap of flying wood hit Mimi and she sat up and looked at Tai. "Davis, did you break something again?"

Matt crawled out of the mess and laughed at the look on Tai's face. "Don't worry about it, Tai, that's an easy enough mistake to make!"

"Who's Davis?" Gabumon asked, curiously.

"Oh, you know who Davis is!" Mimi exclaimed. "Don't play stupid, Yolei."

"YOLEI?!" Matt roared with laughter and soon almost everyone else had joined in. Gabumon just stood there, scratching his head in confusion.

"Who's Yolei?"

"Never mind." Matt grinned, "I'm sure you'll remember soon enough."

"Shh!" Sora warned them, sharply, a worried expression crossing her face. Mimi had closed her eyes but she didn't seem to be sleeping. She had curled up into a ball and was shivering, despite the blazing fire and Joe's heavy coat.

"She isn't looking to good." Joe muttered, concerned. Everyone had stopped laughing now and was crowded around Mimi.

"Humans aren't supposed to be that colour, are they?" Gomamon asked. "I mean, I saw Joe a funny colour like that once, but I think that was just because I mixed up some food and put peanuts in the jam scrolls..."

"No, humans aren't supposed to look like that." Joe replied, ignoring Gomamon's last comment. "I think Mimi might be getting worse. If Izzy doesn't come back soon she's going to... well... she might not wake up."

"He'll come." Tai said, firmly. "Izzy will come. If anyone can find us a place to stay, it's him."

"I guess so." Sora bit her lip, still really worried. "I hope so. I just don't know what I'd do if she didn't pull out of this. It was bad enough when Mimi moved to America and I couldn't see her any more. But..."

"Don't worry." Biyomon shook her head.

"Don't even think about it." Palmon added. "Mimi's a lot tougher than you think. We all are."

"I might just put some more wood on the fire." Matt suggested, uncomfortably.

"I might just come with you." Tai agreed. Then they turned to go and...

"Um, guys?" Matt said, shakily.

"You might want to have a look at this." Tai said in the same voice.

And everybody noticed that their little huddle had just gotten bigger. A lot bigger. There were digimon crowding around the campsite, all pushing towards the huddle.

"Hang on!" Sora exclaimed, "I know these guys."

"Yeah, me too." Tai agreed.

"I think I've seen them before." Joe admitted.

Palmon smiled, her eyes bright with joy. "These are the Gekomon and Otarumon!"

"The what?" Matt and Gabumon said at once. No one took much notice, though.

One Gekomon pushed his way through the others to stand next to Mimi.

"Princess!" he cried, "We're back again, Princess Mimi."

"Oh, hello." Mimi murmured. "Can I have a hot chocolate, please?"

"What are you doing here?" Matt demanded, glaring at the Gekomon.

"We are here to help Princess Mimi." he explained. "We have a place where you can all take shelter while you recover from your illness."

"How do we know this isn't just a trap that Serpentmon set up to trick us?" Matt asked, suspiciously.

"Oh, we would never do anything to hurt Princess Mimi!" the Gekomon seemed shocked at such a question.

"Believe me, Matt," Tai put a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "He's telling the truth. Once Mimi's feeling better and comes to her senses, you'll see."

"One last question." Matt pressed on. "How did you find us?"

The Gekomon merely pointed and everyone looked up. It was then that they realised that something had been buzzing around in the sky for several minutes. The Gekomon and Otarumon cleared away as Kabuterimon landed then de-digivolved and Izzy leapt down and ran towards his friends. As the boy skidded to a stop and peered at Mimi, the pink haired one opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she smiled.

"Oh, good." she said. "Daddy's come home at last."

~~~~~~

Big, BIG apologies for taking so long. That didn't really turn out as planned, but that's pretty much the norm for me. I seem to have recently become just slightly obsessed with Mimi. I just think that if she ever had to be a full time digidestined again she'd go back to her old self. Of course, get sick, becoming delirious and mistaking Izzy for her father is another thing altogether... but that was really, really fun. And yes, I do realise that Michael doesn't have a sister.

Oh yes, and if you're going to review, then please answer this one question: Do you think it's a good idea to eat Marching Fishes?

Oh yeah, and about Gundam Wing...


	13. A voice on the wind

Disclaimer: Well, obviously SOMEONE hasn't been reading these throughout the rest of the fic, because if they had then they would know that I DON'T OWN DIGIMON.

Hello, 'tis me again, here to bore entertain you with another ridiculously long detailed chapter of To Be Death's Master. After another break (getting a bit lazy, aren't I?) I've come back with some more rubbish as the six digidestined, Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi and Joe (So I use dub names, you got a problem with that?) and their digimon recover from their colds in a village inhabited by Gekomon and those Tadpolemon thingys (Otamamon? Otarumon? Something like that.). So soon they will be ready to travel again. But there's a little unfinished business to be taken care of before they can leave the forest...

**Chapter 13 - A voice on the wind**

"I called you WHAT?!" Mimi stared at Palmon in disbelief.

It had been four tense days since Izzy had led the other children and digimon to the village. Although most had recovered quickly, Mimi's health steadily worsened and after their second night in the town it was clear that she was in a highly dangerous condition. She was sleeping constantly and everyone began to wish that her delirious daydreams, embarrassing as they could be, would resurface instead of this endless silence. Joe, the doctor in training, hadn't a clue what to do in this sort of situation, and it was grudgingly decided that a proper doctor would have to be found - if there was such a thing to be found in the forest. It was a tense day, everyone roaming about, some still with sniffles or coughs. All except for Palmon, Joe and Sora who would not leave their friend. But finally everyone's spirits lifted as a triumphant Izzy charged through the gates, leading Centaurumon behind him.

It was a difficult job for Centaurumon, as he had never worked with humans, but he had had a lot of experience with digimon illnesses and Mimi was finally on the mend. The children were enjoying a comfort they hadn't had in days, with good (cooked) food and clean clothes thanks to the Gekomon. Laughter returned quickly to the digidestined camp as the children explained to Mimi the drama with the Marching Fishes and the rather amusing quinceconces - er, consequences - of her delirium.

"Yep, you really thought I was Michael." Palmon nodded with a grin. "And then you said Joe was my sister."

"But Michael doesn't even have a sister." Mimi shook her head in confusion. "Neither do you... do you?"

"No, I've never had a sister." Palmon shook her head and then grinned evilly at the red faced Joe. "Not unless there's something Dr. Kido's been hiding..."

Joe mumbled something and went even redder as the room erupted with laughter.

"Now, let's see, you also said Biyomon was Palmon," Sora ticked off names on her fingers. "Izzy was your dad, Gabumon was Yolei, although he wasn't too concerned because he still can't remember who Yolei is, and Tai was Davis."

"Well, that's an easy enough mistake to make." Mimi shrugged.

"Funny, that's what we all said." Matt grinned, nudging a red-faced Taichi. Tai pushed Matt away with a mumbled threat and cast an accusing look at Sora.

"You left someone out, you know." he said, then grinned as she began to look uncomfortable. "Mimi, you kept saying Sora was you mum."

"Oh, really?" Mimi said with interest. "Well, I suppose they do look very similar..."

Sora growled quietly, as Palmon snickered. "When Izzy said that Sora went completely wacko at him."

"Yeah, well, she's not allowed to lay a finger on me!" Mimi announced, "I'm still recovering from my terrible ordeal."

"Well, Mimi, we'd probably better go get some lunch ready." Sora got up from her perch at the end of Mimi's bed. "You really need to eat a bit more if you want to get better properly."

"But I told you already, I only want a bit of salad."

"Don't be silly, you need real food." Sora shook her head.

"Oh all right... Mum." Mimi added as an afterthought. Sora just shook her head and went to leave, but she had just reached the door when a whole gang of Gekomon rushed in bearing plates of food.

"We heard you talking with Princess Mimi so we went and got you all some lunch." the first one announced, breathlessly. "We hope it's enough!"

"Um... this will be... plenty." Mimi stammered, staring at the mountains of food heaped onto the plates.

"Yeah, I think this might actually be enough to feed Tentomon." Gomamon grinned.

"Oh, do you need some more?" the Gekomon asked, innocently.

"No, this'll be fine," Tai said, hurriedly. "Although I think I'd prefer to make my own sandwich. Which way to the kitchen?"

"Just follow us!" the Gekomon said, happily, leading Tai out of Mimi's room and into the hallway.

"Those poor digimon aren't going to know what hit them," Agumon commented, tucking in.

"Oh, come on, he can't do that much damage." Joe shrugged. Then he wrinkled his nose at something on the plate. "I'm allergic to cashews."

"You've never seen one of Tai's Super Sandwiches." Sora shook her head and grabbed the cashews that Joe was picking out of his salad.

"He will have emptied out this kitchen and the one next door by the time he's done." Matt agreed. "Gabumon, you're not supposed to eat the bones."

"Why not?" Gabumon asked, putting the remains of a drumstick back on his plate.

"They could get stuck in your throat and kill you, that's why." Matt explained, with a hint of annoyance. "Didn't I explain this yesterday?"

"No, we had fish yesterday." Tentomon argued.

"So? It still has bones."

"Hey, dad, what's up?" Mimi joked, looking at Izzy. The redhead was seated in the corner, just picking at his food. He had been very quiet for the last few days, ever since he had brought Centaurumon back to help Mimi. The others thought he'd just been worried, but even now that Mimi was getting better he still wasn't looking too happy.

"I'm not really hungry." Izzy sighed, putting his fork down. He stood up and headed for the door. "I think I'll go for a wander in the woods. See if I can find Centaurumon. I want to know how long it'll be before Mimi can start travelling again."

"Why? I mean, does it matter?" Joe wanted to know.

"Hey, do you realise we only have four days left until Mordremon's plan comes into action?" Izzy snapped.

Everyone stared at him with alarm, even Tentomon (who had finished all his own food and started on Izzy's).

"So you see, we have to get moving." Izzy had calmed down a bit and turned to leave. "I'll go and find Centaurumon. I'll be fine on my own. You stay here."

"Wait, I'll come with you!" Tentomon cried, dropping the near-empty plate and taking to the air.

"No, it's okay. I want to go on my own." Izzy said.

"But you need me. Serpentmon's still out there." Tentomon protested.

"We've been in this forest for almost a week and we've only seen her once. What makes you think she'll attack me now?"

"This could be just what she wants. For us to let our guard down." Tentomon still wasn't convinced.

"Even if I do see Serpentmon, I'm sure I'll be able to escape." Izzy shrugged. "See you later."

He walked out into the hall silently leaving everyone staring at the door. Then, a few seconds later...

"Geez, Tai, you're not hungry, are you?" Came Izzy's amazed voice.

"Oh, just a bit peckish." Taichi's voice replied. Then the ravenous one himself staggered into the room holding what appeared to be the entire contents of the kitchen cupboard between two slices of bread. The big-haired boofhead flopped down in an armchair (the Gekomon had brought in a lot of them over the last few days) with his Super Sandwich and got stuck right in.

Tentomon, surprisingly, took no notice of the sandwich, but flew towards the door. "I'm going to follow Izzy."

"Good idea." Matt agreed. "He's been acting a bit strangely."

Tai looked up quizzically, his face stuffed with food.

"Izzy went off to look for Centaurumon." Agumon answered the unspoken question.

"Yeah, he wanted to know how long it'd be before Mimi could travel again." Joe agreed.

"Yeah, I suppose it's a good idea." Tai agreed, licking the last crumbs from his fingers. "I mean, we only have four days left to stop Mordremon."

"That's just what Izzy said." Gabumon nodded. "Why do we have to stop Mordremon?"

"I give up!" Matt howled. "Gabumon's worse than my grandmother! When is he going to remember? Why me?!"

"Um... never mind." Gabumon said, meekly.

"Izzy's been keeping to himself for quite a while now." Sora said, slowly. "Ever since we all got sick he's been on his own, looking after us and that. And after he brought Centaurumon here he hardly said a word to anyone. He's always staring into space like he's thinking about something the rest of us wouldn't understand."

"Maybe that's why he really left." Matt suggested. "To try and figure out whatever's been bothering him."

"Maybe." Tai agreed. Then he flinched as they heard some confused shouting from the kitchen. "I think the Gekomon and Otarumon just found my leftovers." he said, sheepishly. "I'd better go clean up."

"Yes, they like to keep the place clean." Mimi nodded, then yawned.

"Maybe we should all help." Joe said. "I think Mimi needs some sleep."

With only a few grumbles the gang shuffled out of the room - except for Palmon, who crawled into bed next to Mimi **(A/N: For all those sick people out there, I do NOT do monster/human relationships. So don't even think about it.)** Sora paused at the door and smiled at the other girl, who was already fast asleep. She sort of missed being Mimi's mother. It had been kind of nice before, to go along with Mimi's daydreams. The others hadn't liked it, but Sora thought if it helped Mimi, she might as well play along.

_She's getting better now, though._ Sora told herself. _And Biyomon still needs me. It was nice, though. For a while._

"Goodnight, Mimi." she whispered, turning out the light and shutting the door behind her.

"'Night, Mum." Mimi whispered back.

******

Izzy wandered aimlessly through the forest, taking no notice of which way he was going. Searching for Centaurumon might have been a good idea, but it wasn't his real reason for going away. Some strange things had been happening to him lately, things he couldn't explain, and he needed some time away from the others to think them over.

It had been almost a week since they had first wandered into the forest. Since the huge battle against the Tyrannamon. That's when it had started. When the huge dinosaurs trapped them under the logs in an airless prison, everyone was slowly beginning to suffocate. During the battle the logs were probably set on fire one or two times as well, burning up more oxygen. The others didn't seem to understand what was happening as it got warmer and warmer as they used up the air. They weren't able to fight the drowsiness that was part of the slow suffocation. Only little Koushiro stayed awake, and he too was beginning to feel weak when it happened.

He was slowing down, finding it harder to think. The heat was slowing him down, numbing his mind and his body. Even as he was panicking Izzy started to sink into a deep sleep. Everything began to seem fuzzy and his eyes slowly closed. He seemed to have been asleep for an eternity when it happened. And yet, it seemed like no time at all. But the amount of time was irrelevant. The important thing was that somehow, something managed to pierce his oxygen deprived sleep. A bodiless voice, echoing inside his muddled thoughts. 

_You cannot sleep now, Koushiro Izumi. _ It was like a whisper in his ear. _Your friends need their help. You are the child of Knowledge. You know what is happening. And you know what you must do._

Suddenly he jerked forward, wide awake. He spun around, ignoring the screaming of his tired body and dug his fingers into the earth below the nearest log, scraping away feverishly. Despite his spinning head he worked on without a break. He was just beginning to fall back into his previous stupor when he felt a whiff of fresh air. Pushing against the log with all of his little strength, Izzy managed to shift it just an inch or two and pulled out a few more handfuls of dirt. It wasn't much but it was enough. Fresh, clean air flooded in and Izzy sat back, gulping it down. He knew many things, but he'd never appreciated how good it was just to be able to breathe. 

_Well done, Koushiro._ The voice seemed to blow in with the breeze. _But the battle is not yet won. You will hear from me again. We are very alike, you and I._

And then it was gone. 

Tai and the others woke soon after that. Izzy forgot much of the strange encounter in the battle that followed and while he had his hands full looking after the others. Even after he led them all to the village, he was too busy worrying about Mimi to really think about the voice that cut through the fog to save him and the others. But later the voice had come again, and helped him to save another. 

Izzy began to kick a rock absentmindedly. He'd never been much good at physical stuff and had always secretly admired Taichi for his skill with a soccer ball. And at times like these, he almost wished he had Tai's... well... it wouldn't be right to call it stupidity, but his slight lack of curiosity. Tai probably wouldn't worry about some weird voice in his head. He'd just accept it and go on with his fight. But Izzy was sort of shaken by it all. The voice had called him the child of Knowledge. And yet, Koushiro Izumi knew no remotely logical explanation for this voice. 

Of course, some would say that it was one of those mysterious forces of the digital world making sure that everything worked out right and the digidestined were able to carry out their mission. For Izzy would not have been able to save any lives without it. 

The second time was, in a way, scarier than the first. The first time he could just call it some sort of madness due to lack of oxygen. But there was no rational cause for the voice that guided him to Centaurumon. 

Izzy could remember it all so clearly. Perched on Kabuterimon's back, flying over the forest, a million thoughts racing around in his head. He needed, so desperately to find a doctor and help Mimi out. He didn't have Joe's medical training, but he knew all too well what would happen to Mimi if they didn't get her some help right away. But he just couldn't think. Fear and worry were clouding his thoughts and he couldn't even begin to plan where to look next. He was blind to the beautiful scenery beneath him. All the red head could see was Mimi, lying there back in the village, every breath an effort. She was so pale, so weak... and then, still stronger, the way she had looked at him when he and Kabuterimon had led the Gekomon into the camp. _'Look, Daddy's come home at last.'_. 

Koushiro remembered squeezing his eyes shut and throwing his head back into the wind. It the speed of he air blowing past his face, that was all. A perfectly logical explanation. It was the wind in his eyes that was making him cry. 

And right then, as he was lost in the storm of his own emotions, it came to save him from drowning. The voice, different this time, seemed to hit his ears even harder than the gale-force winds from his digimon's wings. 

_Don't worry, Koushiro._ It said, soothing this time. _I'm here to help you again. You're friend will be fine. Just follow my directions and it'll all be fine._

If the thought of a voice in his head being sneaky wasn't so ridiculous, Izzy would have sworn that their was a funny emphasis on the word 'friend'. 

But of course he wasn't thinking about that at the time. 

_First get down a bit lower, so you can see a bit more below the trees._

"Hey, Kabuterimon, do you think you could move down a little lower?" Izzy asked, trying to sound normal. 

"Sure, no problem." Kabuterimon replied and began to skim the treetops. 

_Now, there's a sort of rough path through the trees, just to your left. _Came the instructions. _See where there's no vegetation, just dirt?_

Yes, Izzy could see. But how was he supposed to tell a bodiless voice that? 

"I think there's a bit of a path down there, Kabuterimon. Can you go in for a closer look?" 

_Now what?!_ Izzy wondered as Kabuterimon adjusted his flight. 

_Well, look at the track._ The voice replied. 

Izzy squinted hard, straining to see anything in the hard earth. But then... 

"There are hoof prints on the track there! They must have been made by a digimon, Unimon or maybe Centaurumon. Maybe whoever it is can help Mimi!" 

"Let's hope so." Kabuterimon sped up, following the prints in the dirt. "Shouldn't take us too long. There, up ahead, I see him!" 

And there, in a small clearing, stood Centaurumon, casually picking berries from a bush. When Izzy explained his problem to the friendly digimon he soon agreed to help the sick girl and gracefully declined Kabuterimon's offer to carry him all the way to the village. 

_Well done, Izumi._ Said the voice on the breeze as Kabuterimon rose into the sky once more. _I trust you can find your way back without my help._

Somehow Izzy knew that the voice had left him then. But he was left with the strangely disturbing feeling that he hadn't heard the last from it. 

Koushiro was now standing at the edge of the forest. He hadn't realised he'd been walking for so long, but time passes quickly when you're deep in thought. A few metres from where the trees ended was the bank of a huge lake. Izzy flopped down on the edge of the lake and pulled off his shoes and socks, dipping his toes in the water. Even though he was right at the shallowest part his feet couldn't touch the bottom. The water got very deep very quickly. And somewhere out in the depths Kappamon was waiting. 

The boy looked beyond the water to the far bank, where the outline of a rocky mountain could just be seen. From his vantage point Izzy couldn't see Mordremon's castle, but he knew it was up there. She would probably be up in her tower right now. Maybe she was even watching him, wondering if he would and the others would reach her in time. 

But there was so much to do before then. Banemon was probably roaming the treacherous slopes of the mountain, barring anyone from reaching the castle. He was one dangerous digimon, especially with his ability to make the digimon de-digivolve. He was just an Ultimate, but he had managed to defeat both WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, the two strongest digimon, in this manner. Even now that Palmon could reach the Mega level they probably didn't have much of a chance. If Banemon had three heads then he could probably take three digimon down that way. 

Of course, they had to get across the lake before they could worry about Banemon, and Kappamon was guarding that section. She was a nasty sort as well, with that whirlpool attack. Ikkakumon was the only digimon that could handle water, but he didn't have Kappamon's stealth or agility. The aquatic digimon could probably avoid being seen or heard for as long as she wanted to, and then strike without any warning. Even if they all tried to fly across, Kappamon's whirlpool could leave the water and attack Garudamon in the air. 

But before any of that, there was still Serpentmon. Oh sure, they hadn't heard from her in ages, but somehow Izzy didn't think she was likely to just let them past. She'd probably just kept herself hidden to give them all time to recover. Mordremon seemed to be a good sport and was unlikely to attack them while they were weak. Although, the more time they took, the easier things were for Mordremon. And there were only four days left! 

"What am I supposed to do?" Izzy cried out, throwing his arms in the air. "How am I supposed to fight a digimon who won't show herself? Or an illness that only time will cure? I have the crest of Knowledge, but there is so much I don't know." 

_As a rule not knowing is a step towards new knowledge._

"Oh, not you again." Izzy muttered, bitterly. "What's that supposed to mean?" 

_If you admit to yourself that you do not know, then you can allow yourself to learn._

"What am I supposed to learn?" 

"Izzy? Who are you talking to?" Tentomon suddenly appeared on the bank next to Izzy, looking a little confused. 

"Tentomon!" Izzy exclaimed with happy surprise. "You followed me." he accused. 

"I'm sorry, Izzy." Tentomon apologized. "But I was so worried. You've been acting very strangely, you know." 

"I'm sorry too." Izzy nodded. "I should have told someone what had happened, I suppose. But it's so strange, you'll probably just think I'm nuts." 

"I wouldn't be like that, no matter what you say." Tentomon assured him. "You humans are so bizarre anyway, one more oddity couldn't make that much of a difference." 

"Er... right." Izzy scratched his head. "I guess I'd better tell you what's been happening, huh?" 

"That might be a good idea." Tentomon nodded. "But tell me later. We have to get back to the village. You were gone so long that it's nearly dinner time!" 

Izzy laughed and scratched Tentomon's antennae affectionately. It was good to know that Tentomon would listen to what he said, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. 

_You see, you are learning already._

Yes, I suppose I am, Izzy thought. 

_But you should do as Tentomon says. Go back to the village. Your friends need you._

They could make dinner without Izzy's help. He was a pretty lousy cook. Besides, they'd have a better chance of actually getting to eat it without Tentomon hanging around. 

_No, they are in danger. The forest's guardian is growing weary of this game..._

Game? Izzy thought, frowning. Where have I heard that before? The forest's guardian? Who..? A brief memory flashed through his mind, of the first day in the forest, the bushes rustling, and a hissing voice... 

"A very interesting game indeed..." whispered a voice behind him. Izzy whipped his head around just in time to see a well-camouflaged reptilian tail slipping away into the bushes. 

"Serpentmon!" Izzy yelped, leaping up. He began to run in the direction of the village, his shoes lying forgotten by the lake. He was making little speed, though, as he had never been very athletic and running barefoot was complicating things. He was already panting and his feet were scratched from pounding on the rough forest floor. 

"I wish he would stop doing that." Tentomon sighed, trying to decide whether to follow Izzy or guard his shoes. He eventually hooked his talons around the laces and tried to fly like that, but he had never been very fast and the shoes weighed him down. If only he could digivolve then he could go faster, but he needed Izzy's help for that. 

It took Tentomon about five minutes to find Izzy. The boy was lying face down at the time, having tripped over once again. Dumping the shoes on a nearby rock, Tentomon immediately went and perched on Izzy's head. 

"Why do you keep running of like that?" Tentomon asked as Izzy struggled to his feet. 

"I heard Serpentmon. She's back. She's heading to the village where the others are and we really have to get there! Now!" Izzy was beginning to panic a little. 

"Well, you could have just said so." Tentomon grumbled. He jumped down to the ground and digivolved before Izzy could get a word in. 

"Oh. Er, good idea." Izzy grinned sheepishly and climbed aboard. 

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it." Kabuterimon said in his rough voice. "Now, let's get moving. Oh, and I'd better not forget your shoes." 

Grasping the shoes in one hand, Kabuterimon rose into the air and began flying towards the village, just brushing the tops of the trees. It would have been faster to fly higher, but Izzy insisted they should stay low and keep an eye out for Serpentmon. 

"Do you see her yet?" Kabuterimon asked for the fifth time. 

"No, there's no sign of her." Izzy shook his head. "Serpentmon seems to be able to make herself invisible when she wants to. Like she can blend in with the forest floor. Camouflage." 

"Maybe. Or maybe she's invisible."

"Or maybe we're both going blind. There are plenty of possibilities, but it doesn't really matter as long as we can protect the village."

"It's not far now. Look up ahead, on the horizon. Do you see it?"

"Yeah, I see." Izzy smiled. "When we get there, we'll have to get all the digimon out. Agumon, Gabumon and Palmon especially, we'll need Mega digimon. With the power of those three combined there's no way that Serpentmon can win."

"In that case," said Serpentmon, appearing in front of Kabuterimon so fast that he crashed to the ground in shock, "I cannot allow you to go any further."

"What th..? How does she _do _that?" Izzy gasped, now lying on the ground. He stared up at the snake in awe as she towered above the treetops.

"Beats me," Kabuterimon growled, "but I've had about as much as I can take. Forget the Mega digimon, I can take her myself. You ready, Izzy?"

"You bet!" Izzy replied, holding out his digivice.

And yes, surprise surprise, MegaKabuterimon is now flying at Serpentmon's head.

"Go for the eyes!" Izzy found himself shouting.

Sure enough, MegaKabuterimon aimed for Serpentmon's eyes, landing on her head and scratching at them with his two clawed arms. The great snake hissed in annoyance, tossing her head about. The big bug got shaken around a bit, but let's not forget how big that guy is! So, having failed there, Serpentmon whipped MegaKabuterimon with her own tail, Sending him crashing into some trees not far away. But soon he was up again, clinging to her throat this time and trying to choke the slimy reptile. Panicking, Serpentmon opened her jaws to reveal her two curving fangs and released an Acid Bomb attack. Although it went nowhere near MegaKabuterimon it did disintegrate a large amount of dirt just to the right of Izzy.

"Watch where you're throwing those things!" Izzy cried as a second Acid Bomb flew over his head towards the lake. "Let her go, MegaKabuterimon."

"But I was jus-"

"DO IT!!" Izzy got onto his laptop again. "There's no point in you beating her like that if she wipes out everything else within reach."

"What am I supposed to do then?" the insect swerved aside as Serpentmon lunged at him again.

"Just a minute... I just need a minute..." Izzy pulled up Serpentmon on the digimon analyser and searched for a scrap of info one the Acid Bomb. "Got it! Knock out her fangs and she can't attack."

"Sure thing." MegaKabuterimon flew straight at Serpentmon's mouth this time. "Open wide, please!" he joked. "Oh, you don't want to? Horn Buster!"

The bolt of electricity stung Serpentmon's nose and her jaws sprung open. MegaKabuterimon shot forward, but Serpentmon still had a few tricks up her sleeve. Just as the bug had almost reached her fangs, she unleashed a killer Acid Bomb attack. At point blank range.

MegaKabuterimon plummeted to the ground, roaring in pain. There was now nothing but a smoking stump where his horn had been.

"Oh no," Izzy whispered, picking up a crumpled Tentomon. "What do we do now?"

"You lose." Serpentmon hissed, curling her body in a huge ring around the two of them.

"I'm not going down that easily." Izzy growled, packing his laptop away. "You can't just get rid of the digidestined. Maybe I'm not as strong or as brave as some of the others, but that doesn't mean I'm any easier to beat!"

"Oh, really?" Serpentmon casually sent a few more acid attacks raining down on the nearby trees, clearing a large space. "What if I did that to you, hmm? Would you be able to stand that any easier than your friends?"

"That's just stupid!" Izzy argued.

"Well, you were right, you know. You're no easier to beat than any of the other digidestined. You're just as helpless as the rest."

With a nasty leer she began forming another acid bomb between her fangs. But Serpentmon wasn't looking at Izzy this time. she was staring straight at the weakened Tentomon. Without another thought, Izzy dived right at Tentomon, skidding along the ground and crashing against Serpentmon's scaly body. He could smell the stinging acid as the bomb landed just where he had been seconds before.

"This doesn't look good." Tentomon muttered weakly.

"No, it isn't." Izzy replied. He got to his feet, still holding Tentomon, and noticed that Serpentmon was moving the coils of her body away from him. But that must mean -

"Acid Bomb!"

Izzy only just leapt aside in time. The blast made him stumble and trip, land face first in the dirt again.

"This is too easy!" Serpentmon laughed, watching Izzy run. She slammed down her tail, blocking his path, and sent another acid bomb sizzling through the air to land just behind him, singing the hem of his shirt.

Izzy was panting now, and finding it much harder to run as the ground was eaten up by the acid. The fourth and fifth attacks only just missed him. As he staggered aside to avoid the sixth he tripped and fell. And this time he simply could not find the energy to get back up.

He knew the seventh would finish him and Tentomon. He knew that it was over. It had always been hopeless, really. He had the crest of Knowledge, but there was nothing he knew that could help him now. All he knew was that he was finished.

_Is that so? Well, I know something you don't know._

"What else is new?" Izzy grumbled.

_The Acid Bomb attack will not be your downfall, nor will it be Tentomon's._

"Well, that's nice to know."

_It is Serpentmon who will suffer from it._

"Huh? It's her attack, why would she suffer."

_The seventh attack is not meant for you, but for her. Even though she is the one to release it._

"Izzy, what does this mean?" Tentomon looked at Izzy in confusion.

"You hear the voice too?" Izzy asked, in shock.

"Yes. Is this what happened to you before?"

"Yeah. But I think it must be wrong this time. There's no way we could survive an Acid Bomb."

"If that voice says we can, then we can." Tentomon said, firmly.

"How would you know?"

"Has the voice ever been wrong before?"

"Well, no, actually." Izzy said, a little surprised.

"You see? We must believe it this time as well."

"But what if it's wrong?" Izzy wanted to know.

_You have the crest of Knowledge, Koushiro, but there is one thing you need to learn: there are many things that we know, but some things we just have to believe._

"Did you hear that?" Izzy asked.

"Yes, I did." Tentomon nodded. "I think I understand now. We just have to believe that this is going to work."

The two of them looked upwards as Serpentmon bared her fangs and began to form one last ball of acid. There was a wicked gleam in her eye as she sent the deadly stuff hurtling down to the ground. As the burning liquid surrounded Izzy and Tentomon, everything seemed to freeze. It didn't hurt at all, but Izzy felt like he was floating. And looking at Tentomon, he could see that his friend felt fine as well. For a fraction of a second they locked eyes and at last they understood. Then Izzy's already glowing digivice exploded with light.

"Tentomon, warp digivolve to..."

Tentomon was growing bigger and bigger, first Kabuterimon, then MegaKabuterimon, then something that no-one had ever seen before. He had the same six legs, the same bony helmet and the same tough shell hiding his wings. But he was bigger and more powerful than ever before. And this digimon was not blue or red or green, but a brilliant, shining gold.

"HerculesKabuterimon!"

Izzy stood, wide-eyed, as the new digimon hovered above him. Tentomon, a mega digimon? Incredible! But there he was, ready for action.

"So, Izzy, do you believe in miracles?" HerculesKabuterimon asked, with a wink. Izzy grinned back.

"I don't have to believe in miracles - I _know_ that they're for real."

Serpentmon's mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide in shock. "This isn't possible." she whispered.

"Oh, it's possible alright!" HerculesKabuterimon roared. He launched himself right at the snake's mouth, just as he had done before. "Giga Scissor Claw!" With a single attack the bug knocked Serpentmon's fangs right out of her mouth and they clattered harmlessly to the ground.

Serpentmon seemed to shrink, dropping her head to ground level and bunching her entire body up into one big coil. HerculesKabuterimon thought he had won for just a second - until Serpentmon pushed off with her bunched muscles and launched herself into the air, slamming her head into the giant insect. With a sickening crack she dropped back to earth.

"Oh no, she's hurt herself!" Izzy dashed toward the snake, but she snapped at him and he stopped.

"Don't come any closer!"

"I just want to help!" Izzy argued. "You've broken something, at least let me look at it."

Koushiro hadn't even noticed Serpentmon's tail snaking towards him. It whipped around him, squeezing him tightly.

"Thank you for your offer, small one." Serpentmon hissed in Izzy's face. "I never knew humans were such fun to crush. Good for relieving stress, doncha know."

"Izzy knows more than you ever will!" HerculesKabuterimon roared. "And you should have known that I'd never let you hurt him. Mega Electro Shocker!!!"

The golden insect unleashed an enormous bolt of electricity, hitting Serpentmon right on the head. Her whole body tensed up, squeezing Izzy even tighter, before she dissolved into digi-dust and floated away.

HerculesKabuterimon shrank too, and soon there was just little pink Motimon sitting on the ground next to Izzy.

"We sure showed her, didn't we, Izzy?" the little digimon smiled.

"We sure did." Izzy grinned back.

_Well done. _Said the mysterious voice._ I think you've both done very well. I doubt that you will need me again, but I will be around. And good luck._

Izzy smiled to himself and looked at Motimon.

"Yeah, I heard it too." Motimon nodded. "We should probably get back to the village now."

"Yes, I suppose we should." Izzy stood up and stretched. Then stopped with a horrified look on his face.

"What's wrong, Izzy?" Motimon asked with concern.

"Motimon," he whispered, looking back over the scarred battlefield, "_where are my shoes?_"

~~~~~~

Well, there you have it, readers! Sorry it took so long, but I've been a little busy lately. I'm alternating between TBDM and the Digidoomed at the moment, but Digidoomed should be finished soon so I can get back to working on this full time. And for anyone who's interested, Digimon Tamers starts in Australia exactly a month from today! *crickets chirping* Okay, so it ain't that fascinating, but I've heard so much about it and I'm just a teensy bit sick of reruns. Well, must go now. Dragon Ball's about to start.

Oh, and has anyone seen my shoes?


	14. A picnic in the park

Disclaimer: I have absolutely no right to use any of the characters herein, unless I make up a digimon or two. They all belong to Toei / Bandai / whoever and it's illegal for a fan to use the names and personalities in, say, an imaginative story hypothesising about what _could_ happen to them in an alternate universe or the bits that the writers never told us about. Like, for example, what I'm writing right now. So, technically, I'm a criminal.

However, people like reading this stuff so I think my actions are, like, totally justified.

Having knocked off Serpentmon it's time for me to do another one of those in between thingies, this time a real world flashback. It also shows a fraction of what's happening in the rest of the digital world during the crisis bit. Includes some lesser characters and a few of my all-time favourite digimon. Read on!

**Chapter 14 - A Picnic in the Park**

It had been over a week since the twelve kids had disappeared and there was chaos in the world they had left behind. After the control spires were found worldwide and Malomyotismon's darkness covered the planet everyone had become fascinated with the digital world. And naturally when the twelve children most deeply involved just happened to vanish again, it was really, REALLY big news. It was all over the newspapers in a flash. Although there was no evidence of a problem in the real world it was generally agreed that we would see the signs soon enough. People were pretty tensed up about these kids. The only ones who weren't too worried were their families.

"I just don't see what all the fuss is about," Momoe Inoue mumbled through a mouthful of chicken burger. "There's no sign of danger here, unlike the other times stuff's gone wrong."

Jun Motomiya and Momoe Inoue were sitting at a table by the window of their favourite cafe. Since their digidestined siblings had vanished their families had had a hard time escaping media attention. There hadn't been so much attention turned on them at school (the press were mostly hearing from the teachers about the number of windows Davis had broken) but at home they had little time to escape.

"Oh, I don't know." Jun fiddled absently with her salad. "Davis and your sister and those other kids had been fighting for weeks, maybe even months before the digimon showed up at Christmas."

"Yeah, but we don't know that they're fighting," Momoe argued. "For all we know they may have just gone on a digiworld holiday."

Jun raised an eyebrow. "In the middle of the school term? Davis would do that sort of thing, and probably Tai as well, but I doubt any of the others would."

"Mmm, I guess Yolei wouldn't miss that much school." Momoe agreed. "Come to think of it, she must have disappeared right after school finished."

"Davis didn't come home from school that night either." Jun said, thoughtfully, chewing on a slice of tomato.

"They've been coming home late since the start of the year." Momoe shrugged. "I wasn't really worried until I heard that Yolei's friends and the five older kids had gone missing too."

"Six." Jun corrected her.

"Six?"

"There was a girl in America who vanished as well." Jun told her. "A Mimi Tachi... Tachi-something."

"Tachikawa." Momoe finished off her burger and started on the fries. "Yolei told me about her once. Met the girl one weekend I think. The was she carried on you'd think Mimi was a goddess or something."

"Yeah? When was that?"

"Right back at the start of the year. Probably when they first started all this digimon stuff."

"I cant believe we never noticed anything going on all those months ago." Jun mused. "All that time and we were totally clueless."

"There were times when we could see stuff happening," Momoe pointed out, "like the time Tai brought them all home around midnight."

"And Matt was running around giving us all those dumb excused." Jun giggled.

"Your first chance to blackmail him." Momoe replied, dryly.

Jun smiled ruefully. "Hey, it was fun while it lasted."

"While what lasted?" Momoe snorted. "C'mon, Jun, Yamato never liked you and you know it. Are you going to eat that or not?" she finished, eyeing her friend's salad.

"Help yourself." Jun pushed the remaining salad towards her friend. "Yeah, matt couldn't stand the sight of me, I know. But there are plenty of other guys out there, like -"

"Jim Kido!" Momoe interrupted.

"Yeah, Jim's cute, isn't he?" Jun went on.

"Glad someone thinks so." said a voice behind her.

Jun gulped and spun around to see Jim standing right behind her, struggling to keep a straight face.

"I was just finishing my lunch and I thought I heard you speaking about the digital world." he commented, slipping into a chair. "Although the conversation seems to have shifted a bit..."

"I was just... um... just saying..." Jun blushed and began folding her napkin into a neat square.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Jim said with a smile. "I'll just forget you ever said anything about me. Okay?"

"'Kay." Jun mumbled.

"Now, what were you saying about the digital world, Jim?" Momoe asked.

Jim shrugged. "I don't really know anything about the digital world. I've never been there. Everything I know is because of my little brother."

"Yeah, well, Jun's brother and my sister are digidestined too." Momoe pointed out. "But I think you know more than that. Not long after Christmas you brought Yolei come after dark one night."

"You brought Davis home too." Jun had found her voice again. "I'm pretty sure you didn't just pick them up on the way home - and don't give me that story about the flat tyre again."

"They'd been fighting digimon, hadn't they?" Momoe demanded.

"Well... yeah." Jim gave them a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the truth then, but we do have to try to cover things up."

"Bit hard to do the same now." Momoe grumbled. "Every day since Yolei disappeared I've woken up with a reporter on the doorstep."

"I don't think we'll ever be able to cover up trouble in the digital world again." Jim sighed. "Everyone knows about it and the digidestined now. Even when there's no danger people will start trying to get there."

"Which probably isn't a good thing," Jun added. "No-one would want the digiworld to be overrun by..."

Jun's voice trailed off as she stared, wide-eyed, past Jim and Momoe. Her chair clattered to the ground as she ran towards the door with her two friends close behind.

******

On the outskirts of Odaiba chaos erupted in a small electronics shop at the end of a block. Customers and staff scrambled to find hiding places as a gang of digimon wandered out of a back office, through the front door and out into the street.

Ogremon swung his club over his shoulder and glanced warily at Leomon, who was marching alongside him. Although they were lifelong rivals the two digimon had formed an uneasy truce due to the current crisis in the digiworld. They were both good digimon at heart and were willing to help as much as possible - even if they did tend to show off for each other's benefit. But unfortunately for the hot-headed duo, theirs was not the most exciting of jobs.

"Hey, you there! Keep in line!" Leomon grunted at an erstwhile gaggle of Botamon.

"This has got to be the most embarrassing thing we've ever done." Ogremon snarled as he swept a Poyomon off a windowsell and back onto the ground.

"That's not saying much." the lion muttered. "Well, for me, anyway. Your life has probably been full of embarrassments."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Ogremon demanded.

"Seadramon's lake, two summers back." Leomon smirked.

"Oh, you had to bring that up," his companion groaned. "Look, I was only trying to -"

"Get a bite to eat, I know." Leomon sniggered. "You really should know how to climb a tree, Ogremon."

"It was not my fault!" Ogremon was slowly turning an interesting shade of red.

"Oh, so the tree just _decided_ to rip your pants off?"

"It was an _accident._"

"Yeah, I know, but was it an accident that you fell in the lake right after? Were you trying to get your trousers back?"

"Well, I dunno, I..." Ogremon stopped and glanced suspiciously at Leomon. "Hey, how'd you know all this? You weren't there, were you?"

"Um... not _exactly_..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I was... I was in the area." Leomon looked flustered for a moment but quickly got back to teasing Ogremon. "Besides, Seadramon told me ALL about it. How he came and saw you fall out of the tree. And how he had to fish your pants out of the water for you. He even told me what happened when you tried to grab his -"

"SHUT UP!!1" Ogremon roared, swinging his club.

Leomon quickly twirled his sword to block Ogremon's attack and the two glared at each other for a moment.

"Stop it, both of you!" Elecmon bustled forward to tell them off. "You should know better than to fight in front of the babies. You're scaring them!"

The two digimon looked guiltily at each other and then at the baby digimon who were now huddled together behind Elecmon.

"Sorry." Ogremon muttered.

"Yeah. Sorry." Leomon agreed.

"No worries!"

Two Punimon and a Pitchmon bounced up and happily burrowed into Leomon's mane. The feline digimon stumbled backwards in surprise and blushed at the baby digimon's affection. He stood there looking (and feeling) rather awkward. He didn't mind the babies so much, but _why_ did they have to do this now?

"Looks like they've forgiven you, Leo." Ogremon said, dryly. "Shall we get moving then?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Elecmon bustled forward, about twenty baby digimon riding on his back and a hundred others following behind him. "We're supposed to meet up with the others in the park."

"Others?" Ogremon asked, looking alarmed.

"Yes, there are a few other digimon eager to get away from the digiworld right now."

"Hang on, are you telling me they get a free trip to the real world while we're here 'guarding' your babies?" Ogremon demanded.

"Don't know that they need much guarding." Leomon grunted, trying to remove a hyper Nyokimon from his tail. "Little monsters, they are."

"I guess some digimon are getting a bit of a free ride." Elecmon shrugged. "C'mon, we gotta go find 'em."

Ogremon followed Elecmon and the babies, grumbling about how embarrassing this was and how come the other digimon leaving the digiworld didn't have to go through this. Leomon stopped for a minute, combing through his mane one fore time for all those annoying little babies. His searching claws came across a couple of Pitchmon stuck to the back of his neck, a Yuramon on top of his head and a Yukimibotamon that had somehow found its way into his ear. By the time he'd detached a Leafmon from his sword handle and one little Chibimon from his belt the other digimon had gotten a fair way ahead. Cursing under his breath, the feline grabbed all the little babies and was about to take off when he heard a shout from behind him.

"Hey, you! You digimon, what are you doing here?" Jun Motomiya was pounding down the footpath towards the big digimon, Momoe and Jim right behind her.

"I'm not... uh..." Leomon wasn't quite sure what to say when Jun caught up with him, glaring furiously.

"What are you doing here? You should be back in the digital world." Jun accused him.

"Er... sorry. Um, I can explain this, you know." he started backing down the road, still holding an armful of tiny digimon.

"Aw, give him a break Jun." The other girl shook her head and smiled at Leomon. "I'm Momoe Inoue. This is Jun and the tall guy is Jim. Who are you?"

"I-I'm Leomon." he stammered. Why was Momoe looking at him like that? "I know I really belong in the digital world but there was a problem, you see and we... um... Elecmon!"

He turned around to look for the other digimon and saw Elecmon herding the babies across the road to the park. A set of traffic lights further down the road had changed to red and they were taking advantage of the break in traffic, as no-one would notice the smaller digimon. Ogremon was standing off to the side, trying to coax some Yuramon out of a garbage bin. Elecmon was just going back for another batch of babies when the lights changed and the first car in the bank, about twenty metres away, started to move.

Jim was up and running before he even thought about it. _That little digimon can't see the movement, he's going to get himself killed!_ he thought.

"Jim, what are you doing?!" Jun cried. "Come back here!"

Jim wasn't listening to any of it, though. He dodged around the frustrated Ogremon and skidded over the kerb, grabbed Elecmon by the scruff of the neck and dragged the rookie digimon to safety.

"What was that for?" Elecmon asked, surprised.

"I just saved your life, digimon." Jim answered, still holding him up in the air. "You would have been crushed in that traffic."

"Oh. Er... thanks." Elecmon said, weakly.

"No problem." Jim lowered him to the ground and straightened up. "What were you doing, anyway? Don't you know you're supposed to cross at the crossing?"

"Sorry, I've never been away from the digital world before." the monster replied. "My name's Elecmon."

"I'm Jim Kido." Jim bent down to shake Elecmon's paw. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Elecmon grinned.

"What, exactly, were you doing?" Jun demanded. "Jim, I always thought you were a sensible guy but that was really dumb. You could have been killed, you idiot!"

"Well, I -"

"What on earth possessed you to do something like that?" Jun went on.

"It was Elecmon, I guess." Jim replied, sheepishly.

"Elecmon?" Jun frowned.

"Hey there." the mon in question waved at her.

"Yeah, that's his name." Jim continued. "I don't know what it was, I just couldn't bear to see the little guy get hurt, you know?"

Jun shook her head disbelievingly. "You're nuts, you know that?"

"Well... yeah."

"Oh, give him a break, Jun." Momoe interrupted. "We have other things to worry about. Like what a bunch of digimon are doing here in the real world."

"We're escaping." Leomon told her, with a dark look.

"Escaping? From what?" Momoe looked at Leomon with concern.

"There's bit of trouble in the digiworld right now." Elecmon began, shaking his head. "Mordremon's captured those kids with the digivices and is using 'em for some magic thingummy. If she succeeds, then all life within the digital world is doomed. These baby digimon here," he gestured at the swarm of babies around him, "may be the last digimon ever to be born."

"I don't get it." Jim looked at the Elecmon in confusion. "How come all digimon are doomed?"

"Because all digimon are reborn after they die." Leomon explained. "That's the only reason I'm here. I was killed once before, by Etemon. Your brother would remember it, Jim."

"Joe? Hey, what happened to Joe? Where is he?" Jim looked worried now.

"Yeah, what about my brother, and Momoe's sister?" Jun demanded. "What happened to them, are they okay?"

"Hey, slow down!" Elecmon assured her. "Daisuke and Miyako are stuck with Mordremon at the moment-"

"What? Then we have to help them!" Momoe cried. "How do we get to the digital world?"

"You can't. Not now." Leomon put a hand (paw?) on her shoulder. "You are not a fighter and it's dangerous in the digiworld."

"Well, if you've died again and you're still here, it can't be that bad." she protested.

Leomon just shook his head sadly. "A digimon's rebirth is... not pleasant. It can be painful and it's very difficult to regain one's memories and former strength. Besides, we don't even know what would happen to a human who is killed in the digiworld."

"So that's why we have to go and help my sister."

"No you don't." Jim said, suddenly. "That's where Joe comes in, isn't it, Elecmon?"

"You got it!" the digimon winked. "Right at this moment Joe is probably hard at work trying to free you girls' siblings and save us all."

"If they can save you then what are you doing here?" Jun snapped, feeling strangely hostile. She didn't like the way Jim and Momoe were just talking to these digimon as if there was nothing wrong. They were acting as if they'd known each other all their lives. And she was starting to feel a little left out.

"I think it's just a precaution." Momoe replied, though she didn't seem to notice Jun's crankiness. "I'm sure you'd want to get out of the way if something like this was going down here."

"They don't belong here." Jun insisted.

"They need our help." Jim shrugged.

"If these digimon need somewhere to stay then I don't see why they can't come here." Momoe nodded, firmly, standing by Leomon.  
  
"Why don't you want to help, Jun?" Jim asked her, with a hurt and confused look. Despite her discomfort and anger, Jun found herself softening a little. But she still wouldn't change her stance.

"Digimon can't just walk around in the real world, because they...

For the second time that day Jun's voice trailed off mid speech as she stared past Jim at a spectacle unfolding across the road in the park. Momoe and Leomon turned to see the disaster as well. Ogremon, from his position on a fire escape halfway up an apartment building (he'd finally caught those pesky Yuramon) stared in shock as well. The little baby digimon on both sides of the road squealed at the sight. All traffic on the road stopped as drivers got out of their cars to see what was going on. Jim and Elecmon finally turned to witness the strange scene as well.

High above the trees a Unimon and a Devidramon were locked in battle. As they watched several more smaller flying digimon joined them; Kuwagamon, Flymon and a swarm of Airdramon. A burst of fire erupted from one corner of the park, wiping out several trees before it was doused by a squirt of water.

"That's why they shouldn't be here." Jun muttered, shakily.

"Did I mention that we weren't the only ones visiting the human world today?" Elecmon asked, looking a little dazed.

"I think we may have a bit of trouble on our hands." Jim commented. "Why are they fighting, though?"

"Too many digimon, not enough space." Leomon answered.

"So are you going to do something or just sit there and watch?" Piximon emerged form the trees. "These digimon are gonna destroy the place, don't just wait around!"

"Uh... who are you?" Momoe asked.

"Never mind, he's right." Jim told her. "There's no point waiting for something to happen. We have to go and help."

"You read my mind, Jimmy." Elecmon grinned. "Let's go!"

Jim and Elecmon dashed between the (now stationary) cars to the park on the other side of the road. The hoard of babies followed them without complaint. Piximon herded the baby digimon into a group and nodded to Jim and Elecmon, who dashed off to fight the Shellmon that had begun demolishing some picnic tables. Without a moment's thought, Leomon picked up Momoe and leapt across the road to join the fight, leaving a stunned Jun standing alone on the side of the road.

"What is with them?" she whispered to herself. Why had Jim and Momoe suddenly become so involved in the digi-business? It was like it was the only thing they knew anymore. They'd latched onto Elecmon and Leomon like they'd known the two digimon all their lives. As she watched, Jim leaped at Shellmon with a splintered scrap of wood to prevent the monster from squashing Elecmon. He'd just put himself in danger to help his digimon.

_His_ digimon?

That was like... like the way her little brother defended Veemon. Could it be... could Jim and Momoe be digidestined too? It would be just her luck, wouldn't it. Stuck on the outside once more. First it was Yamato, then her little brother. Now her best friend and the guy that she... that she liked. Everyone she knew somehow got involved. They all ended up digidestined. It was just Motomiya Jun who was left.

Lost in thought, Jun didn't notice that the Unimon/Devidramon battle had drifted so far towards her. She certainly didn't notice how accomplished Devidramon had become at dodging Unimon's attacks. She hadn't even noticed that one of those Aerial Attacks was headed right for her...

Jim and Momoe didn't notice either, until it was just a fraction of a second too late to help her. Somebody else had noticed, though. Someone who was least expected.

With three Yuramon still sitting atop his head, Ogremon leapt down from the balcony of the building he had climbed, swinging his club like a baseball bat and knocking the ball of destructive energy aside before crashing to the ground. Jun, realising what had happened, dashed over to the green-skinned monster.

"What did you do that for, silly?" Jun asked, ignoring the Yuramon that had taken refuge in her hair.

"I... I don't know." the monster admitted, dragging himself upright. "I saw you standing there, and the Unimon... I couldn't jut let you get hurt."

"Well, thanks, anyway. My name's Jun."

"I'm Ogremon. Nice to... uh... nice to meet you, I guess."

"Well that's just wonderful." Piximon yelled, sarcastically. "D'you think you could give us a hand over here?!"

"Sure thing, pink guy!" Jun yelled back. She and Ogremon ran between the abandoned cars (most of the drivers had run for cover) to join Jim, Momoe, Elecmon and Leomon in the fight.

"Where'd you go, Ogremon?" Leomon asked, with a friendly grin.

"Just a short rescue mission." Ogremon replied, slapping his friend on the back.

"Bit of a nasty fall you had there. Sure you're not hurt or anything?" Leomon challenged.

"Aw, Leo, I didn't know you cared." Ogremon remarked. "C'mon, let's cut the chat and get to the battle!"

They leapt enthusiastically into a whole pile of bickering Gazimon, picking each one up by the scruff of the neck and separating them all. Somewhere along the line Jun and Momoe joined in too and they were all having a lovely time until one young girl showed up on a Parrotmon.

"You've beaten the Gazimon, okay? Give 'em a rest." the girl ordered, jumping to the ground.

"And who are you to be giving us orders?" Momoe asked, glaring at the girl who was a full head shorter than she was.

"My name's Noriko and I'm trying to get something useful done here." she replied, dryly. "My friends, who you may remember as the dark seed children, are trying to get al these digimon into the centre of the park so we can send them back where they came from."

"So we have to stop fighting?" Jun asked, sounding a little disappointed.

"Yes, you do." Noriko confirmed. "I think you've done a good enough job as is." she nodded towards the groaning Gazimon.

"But you don't understand!" Elecmon protested. "We're all in great danger. All we digimon want is a chance to be safe."

"Hey, you've had your chance!" Noriko argued. "Look what happened! I'd love to have digimon roaming this world as well as their own, but right now there is neither time nor space to do so. Besides, we're still busy trying to cover up everything that has happened and we certainly don't need you coming and messing things up."

"Hey, don't talk to my digimon like that!" Jim demanded.

"_Your_ digimon?"

"Yeah, my digimon." Jim agreed. "He's my friend and if he hadn't helped out just now you mightn't have been able to control all the digimon that appeared here."

"Let it go, Jim." Piximon advised. "I think that we were wrong to come looking for shelter here. We digimon need to have faith in your brother Joe and his friends. We should go back."

Jim, Jun and Momoe looked at each other. They didn't really want the digimon to go. In a short space of time each of them had made a good friend and they didn't want to have to say goodbye so soon. But it was true that the digimon had to go back. They couldn't come and just wander around the humans' world like they belonged.

"Okay." Jim agreed, hanging his head. "We'll send them home."

"Good." Noriko agreed, briskly. "Parrotmon, grab that Shellmon over there and follow us."

The Gazimon and the baby digimon were rounded up and herded towards the centre of the park, following Noriko's lead. Leomon, Ogremon, Elecmon and Piximon took care of the stragglers, along with Jim, Jun and Momoe. But it was a sad little parade as their brief moment of adventure came to an end.

******

"That's about the last of them, then." Noriko said, sending a pair of Snimon and the last bunch of baby monsters back through the digi-port. One of her companions had brought a laptop and opened a digiport.

"Guess it's time for us to go then." Elecmon sighed.

"Yeah. Guess so." Jim agreed, staring at the ground.

"You guys sure you'll be okay?" Momoe asked, looking at Leomon and Ogremon.

"You won't go jumping off any more buildings or anything, will you?" Jun asked.

"'Course not. I don't think Leo would let me." Ogremon grinned.

"Hey, when you've been reconfigured, _then_ you can joke about it." Leomon grunted.

"You have no _idea_ what these two were like to babysit." Elecmon shook his head. "In my entire life I have never had a pair of digimon as difficult as those two."

"Oh, be quiet." Leomon growled again.

"I've still got photos of them you know..."

"Elecmon!" Ogremon pleaded, as the humans burst into gales of laughter.

"You'd probably better get moving." Jim said, at last.

The three digimon stepped in front of the computer screen, ready for the digiport to whisk them back to the world they knew. But something strange was going on this time. As soon as they turned to stare at the screen there was a huge cracking sound and a blinding light.

"What the hell was that?!" Noriko demanded, staring around in shock. "Is your computer okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." a boy replied, picking up the laptop. The screen was flickering on and off rapidly. "The digimon are gone, anyway. Hey Jim, did you see... Jim?"

Yes, the digimon were gone. But so were the humans. Jim, Jun and Momoe had followed them right back to the digiworld that they had all wanted so badly to see.

~~~~~~

Hmm. That was unexpected, to say the least. Hope nobody minds me giving Noriko a Parrotmon, but it made sense at the time. I can't even remember what the baby form of her digimon looked like, so I just grabbed the first Champion that came to mind and stuck it in. Sorry it took me so long to update, but I had a couple of hitches. It's school holidays now, and I'm back on track, so you can expect much more TBDM soon!


	15. Dampened Spirits

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon because it's never been for sale. Even if it was I would have no hope of buying it because I am having just a little trouble with cash right now (i.e.. I'm broke, I can't get a job, don't sue me). I don't own Batman either, because if I did then the movies would make more sense and Robin wouldn't be so annoying (you'll see what I mean).

After a sort of suspension I'm getting TBDM back on the road. I can't believe how much I've neglected it recently, so I've decided to set myself a deadline for the last chapter because I really want to finish this thing. The story just keeps growing and growing until I don't know whether I can really do the whole grand idea justice anymore. But there are so many little things that I want to get just right, so I guess I'll have to do the job myself. Oh, and I should have mentioned this before, but this fic ignores the 'official couples' that we saw in 02 (Sorato, Kenyako, debatable Takari) but I'm not going to alter the epilogue in any way. Oh, and for anyone who has or hasn't seen _Batman & Robin_, all the references I made to it are true and I think Robin is an idiot. I don't know if they ever dubbed it in Japanese, though.

Here we go:

**Chapter 15 - Dampened Spirits**

It was a bright, sunny morning when the party of twelve (six humans, six digimon) made their way to the great lake surrounding the mountain. The digimon back at the village had provided them with food for the remaining three days of their journey and some more comfortable clothing for the humans, as their current outfits were inappropriate, ruined and starting to stink.

"Well, this should be easy enough." Tai said, surveying the scene. "We take a trip across the lake, then start climbing the mountain, get to the castle and beat the -"

"Aren't you forgetting something, Taichi?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Like what?"

"The other digimon. Kappamon, for instance." Sora reminded him, with a small smile.

"Who's Kappamon?" Gabumon wondered.

"You'll see." Matt grumbled, wearily. Gabumon's lack of memory was getting him down. Just that morning Sora had remarked that he was acting like a long-suffering single mother with six-month-old twins. Then she discovered that he also had the temper of one.

"We've only beaten two of the four digimon guarding Mordremon's place." Izzy came in to back Sora up. "I'm betting Kappamon is somewhere in this lake, and after that there's still Banemon to worry about."

"Wouldn't it be better if we could just get over the lake without having to fight?" Mimi suggested. "I mean, Kappamon's no danger to us when she's not in the water, so if we can get over there without a fight then we're safe and we don't have to hurt her."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Agumon nodded. "What do you say, Tai?"

Their leader looked a little doubtful at the prospect of letting an enemy go free, but he relented. "I suppose that would make it easier. What do the rest of you say?"

"I'm with Mimi." Sora nodded. "We should try to limit our kills whenever possible."

"Ditto." Izzy agreed. "We're running out of time, so it would be good if we could start on the mountain today."

"Matt?" Tai asked his friend. The blonde just shrugged.

"Well, I've got nothing against a good fight," Matt admitted, "it might do Gabumon's memory some good. But I guess that's the least of our worries right now."

"I wouldn't say that." Biyomon argued. "Gabumon's important too."

"Thanks, Biyomon, but I know I'm dragging you down." Gabumon sighed. "I don't remember anything of how to fight or even what we're supposed to be fighting."

"You'll remember, Gabumon." Tentomon assured him.

"Yeah, you will. But it's not something we can force." Tai informed him. "Right now we have to worry about getting to Mordremon. So, let's get across this lake and get on with the job."

"You're on." Matt agreed.

"Okay, let's get moving!" Tai yelled, with a loopy grin on his face. "Joe, are you ready to... Joe?"

The others turned to find Joe sitting by the lake with Gomamon, who was conversing urgently with a bunch of fish in the lake. Joe was listening intently, occasionally asking Gomamon to let him know what was going on. Tai dashed over to him, the others following right behind.

"Hey, Joe, you ready to move? We want to get across the lake as quickly as we can." he announced.

"That's not going to be too easy." Joe told him. "Gomamon's been talking to the fish and they say that Kappamon's in there somewhere. He's been trying to find out the exact location but apparently she's very hard to track."

"We're going to try to avoid her if we can." Sora told Joe. "We want to get up the mountain and get on with the job, since we lost so much time when Mimi was sick."

"No fighting? I like it." Joe smiled. "We're still riding on Ikkakumon, I suppose?"

"There's no better way." Izzy nodded. "I mean, we could take Birdramon or Kabuterimon, but they can't feel what's going on under the water."

"Fair enough." Joe shrugged. "C'mon, Gomamon, let's go."

Gomamon shook his head stubbornly. "I don't like it, Joe. The fish tell me that you never see Kappamon coming. She's really fast but really quiet, so you don't know she's after you until you're hit. It's too dangerous!"

"It'll be okay." Joe pulled Gomamon out of the water and held him up in the air. "You're tough enough to beat her. Plus there are five other digimon here and for of them can go to Mega."

Gabumon opened his mouth to ask a question but shut it again when he saw the look on Matt's face.

"Trust me, Gomamon, we'll be fine." Tentomon butted in. "Izzy's got it all worked out."

"Well, if you say so." Gomamon sighed. Then he brightened up and leapt into the water. Joe pulled the digivice from his belt. "Let's move!"

"It should take me about fifteen minutes to get to the opposite side." Ikkakumon announced as his various passengers climbed aboard. "That is, if we don't get attacked or anything."

"Doesn't matter, so long as we get there." Joe grinned and slapped his digimon's think fur. The boy had taken up his usual position at the back of Ikkakumon's head.

"Everyone ready?" Tai asked. "Okay then, let's move."

Ikkakumon pushed off the bank and into the calm water of the lake. Silence settled upon the numerous passengers like a blanket. They sat there for several minutes, saying very little. For some reason, no-one could think of anything to say.

"So..." Mimi couldn't stand the silence any longer. "Seen any good movies lately?"

Sora started coughing as she struggled to hold back her laughter and Tai immediately dealt her a heavy whack on the back. Matt, on the other hand, held nothing back and was roaring with laughter. The digimon were all giggling too. Even Izzy had to work hard to conceal his sniggers.

"Well, I was just asking." Mimi said, with a shrug.

"We've probably missed a whole lot of movies, now that I think about it." Tai admitted. Then, as he was distracted, he whacked Sora a little too hard and she shoved back. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Oh, cut it out, I'm fine." Sora grinned.

"Sorry." Tai apologised, looking sheepish.

"Don't worry about it." Sora shook her head. "Anyway, what were you saying about movies?"

"That we've probably missed quite a few while we've been away." Matt reminded her. "I remember now, they were going to play _Batman & Robin_ again on Saturday."

"Yeah, that's right." Tai agreed. "I loved that movie."

"I didn't like it so much." Sora disagreed. "It was a good story and I liked the action, but I just can't help noticing how it's been dubbed."

"You can always tell a dubbed movie." Izzy agreed. "The voices never match the character's lips."

"And sometimes the voice will stop but the actor's mouth is still moving." Matt added.

"They change some little details, too." Mimi informed them. "I saw that movie in English and some of the conversations are completely different. They cut a scene out, too."

"Yeah? Which one?" Joe asked, turning around.

"Oh, there's this one bit where Robin's arguing with Batman about Poison Ivy but there's nothing of it the dub." Mimi informed them. "It's a pity, that was pretty good."

"Dubbers always wreck everything, don't they?" said Matt. It wasn't a question.

"It's really annoying." Izzy nodded.

"Mmm, I hear Robin was actually smart in the original." Sora commented, dryly.

Mimi shook her head. "No such luck. Even the dubbers can't make him look any dumber than he already is."

Tai was a little surprised at the turn the conversation had taken. "It's still a good movie." he mumbled.

"'Course it is." Joe said, airily. "It's just that it's been warped by the Japanese dubbers."

"Sometimes I wish they'd just do subtitles for the whole thing." Izzy said, distastefully. "Dub versions suck."

"Funny you should say that," Mimi said, cocking her head to the side. "in America people say that dubbers wreck Japanese anime shows."

"Fancy that." Sora grinned.

Joe was about to ask Mimi _exactly_ what American dubbers did to anime, but he was suddenly distracted when Ikkakumon shuddered. It was only the smallest of movements and the others didn't notice anything, but Joe knew his own digimon too well not to notice. Leaning forwards from his perch on the monster's head, he grabbed one floppy ear and whispered as quietly as he could.

"What's wrong, Ikkakumon?"

"There's something down there." Ikkakumon muttered. "I don't know what it is, exactly, but I felt something brush past my hind flippers."

"Do you think it'll be any trouble?" Joe wanted to know.

"Don't think so. It shouldn't be anything major, but I won't know unless I can get under the surface."

"And you can't do that with all of us on your back, right?"

"Right. Sorry." Ikkakumon apologised.

"Don't worry about it." Joe assured him. "Look, there's a little rocky bit sticking up over there, so maybe we can unload everyone and you can get a good look around."

"Good idea. Okay, I'll head over there." Ikkakumon altered his course slightly, turning to the right and heading towards the rocks.

"Hey, Joe, what's up?" Tai yelled from Ikkakumon's back.

"We're going to go sit on those rocks for a minute so Ikkie can see what's going on under the surface." Joe yelled back.

"Ikkie?" Ikkakumon grumbled.

"Well, 'Ikkakumon' is a bit of a mouthful sometimes." Joe admitted. "Don't you like it?"

'Ikkie' just grunted and started paddling a little faster.

"Is there something wrong, Joe?" Mimi asked.

"No, Ikkakumon just wants to look around." Joe lied. "Just in case there's a digimon down there trying to kill us." Only Ikkakumon heard the last bit, though.

They reached the rock platform without any problems. Everyone clambered onto the solid rock, some grateful for a break in their aquatic trip. Joe left last, slipping from Ikkakumon's head to his back and jumping of his stub of a tail.

"Don't be too long." Joe warned his digimon. "And if you get into trouble, send up one of those torpedo things so we can come and help you. Do you think you should digivolve to Zudomon before you -"

"Joe, don't worry." Ikkakumon insisted. "I'm just going for a swim. I'll be fine, so stop worrying already."

"Yeah, okay. Sorry." Joe hung his head.

"Don't _worry._" Ikkakumon repeated, just for good measure. Then he slipped beneath the water and vanished.

"Well, this is just thrilling, isn't it?" Taichi said, dryly, as attempted to skim stones across the water (but failed miserably).

"It doesn't hurt to check things out, Tai." Izzy argued, with an almost superior air.

"Yes, personally I'd like to know what's going on down there." Tentomon nodded.

Tai just grunted.

"Gees, what's with you?" Sora shook her head. "Ikkakumon wants to have a look around, or maybe just get a bite to eat. You don't need to get so shirty."

"I know." Taichi sighed. "It's just that I want to get out there and _do_ something." he chucked another pebble towards the water and it hit the surface with a satisfying plop.

"There's no harm in playing it safe, I suppose." Mimi babbled. "I think we should take every single precaution to make sure there aren't any evil digimon hiding under the water waiting to leap up and drag us down into the water where we'll be trapped and we'll run out of air and die and then they can -"

"That'll do, Mimi." Palmon muttered, patting her friend's hand. "Calm down and stop worrying. We're going to be okay."

"No we're not!" Mimi cried. "In four days Mordremon's plan comes into action and the digimon that die aren't gonna come back so the digital world's going to end and it'll all be over and while were here it's been really horrible and I've been sick and I haven't seen any TV for over a week so I'll have no idea what's going on on all the shows which is really bad 'coz it just is and I can't go shopping and I hate these new clothes even though they're warmer than my old ones but I _liked_ those clothes!"

"Oy. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to bring her along." Agumon whispered.

_"I heard that!"_ Mimi yelled.

"Mimi, Palmon's right." Sora urged her. "_Calm down._ We've been through all this before and we've always survived with no trouble at all. It'll be okay this time too, you just need to relax."

The pink-haired girl just flopped down on the ground with a sigh. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't a digidestined."

"But then you never would have met me!" Palmon cried, looking hurt.

"Yeah, I guess not." Mimi smiled.

Tai grumbled under his breath and turned around. "Hey, Joe, how long d'you reckon Ikkakumon's going to take?"

"How should I know?" Joe yelled back.

"Well, I thought as he's _your_ digimon you might know _something_ about him." Tai snorted.

"I thought since _you're_ the leader you would have thought to find out before he left." Joe replied, mildly.

"I was just asking." Tai snapped. "I'm sick of sitting around here. Isn't there _anything_ else to do?"

"If you're so anxious to find out, why don't you jump in the water and have a squiz yourself?" Sora snapped back.

Taichi grunted and turned away. He sat at the edge of the rock platform with a rebellious look on his face and started trying to skim stones again, but with no luck at all. Each pebble hit the water and sank below the surface with the same resounding 'plop'. Angrily, the boy swept a whole lot of stones into the water at once, making a lot of noise and splashing a bit of water on his shoes.

"You know, you're going to have to relax if you want to skim a stone right." Yamato told him in his low voice.

"Thanks for the tip." Tai spat, not looking at his friend. Matt refused to take the hint and sat down beside him.

"What's gotten into you, Kamiya?" he asked. "You were perfectly fine ten minutes ago, but since Ikkakumon decided to take a break you've gotten all crabby. What gives?"

"How can he just 'take a break' when Mordremon's planning the end of the world?" Tai sighed. "I'm supposed to be the leader and I'm supposed to make sure we get things done, but right now we're not going anywhere."

"Sometimes people - and digimon - need to have a rest." Matt reminded him. "Judging by the way you've been acting, I'd say you could probably do with one."

"We've been resting for nearly a week." Taichi shook his head. "We've wasted enough time. We should concentrate on what we're really here for."

"Ikkakumon's barely been gone for five minutes. It's not like we'll all be doomed because of it."

"But what if we miss the deadline for stopping Mordremon _because_ of those five minutes?"

"Listen to me," Matt grabbed the leader's head and forced him to look his friend in the face. "Taichi Kamiya, you are our leader. You are smart and resourceful and great at making those last-minute decisions without which we would be lost. You are a great leader and under you I have no doubt that everything will be fine."

"You really think I'm a great leader?" Tai's voice quivered a little.

"Of course I do!" Matt threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "How could I not?"

"Well... I haven't felt much like a leader lately." Tai admitted. "I haven't really been a leader in action for a long time. Sure, I've hung around behind the sidelines, but the leader thing is Davis's job now."

"That doesn't matter." Matt groaned. "Davis might be the leader of his group, but he's looked up to you the whole time."

"I helped him a little at the start, but he's a leader in his own right." Tai pointed out.

"So are you." Matt urged.

"Oh, come on, Ishida!" Tai complained. "You saw them all back there. Joe snapped at me, Mimi was hysterical, Sora was all sarcastic - I didn't have any sort of power. What sort of leadership is that?"

"Joe is a worry wart, of course he's going to get snappy." Matt reasoned. "Mimi and Sora... well, they're girls, how are we supposed to know what gets their backs up? Anyway, leadership isn't about power, it's about looking after everyone else."

"And what a great job of that I've done." Tai turned his gaze back to the water. "I just don't think I'm cut out to be a leader anymore. Davis is the leader of the digidestined now. He's got the skills, the experience and the goggles. I'm old news."

"No you're not." His friend growled. "You led us through things that Davis will never even begin to understand. You kept us going when we thought we'd never find out way home. You gave us hope when we thought there was none. Remember when you disappeared after MetalGreymon beat Etemon?"

"I went back to our world." Tai nodded. "And when I came back you'd all split up."

"Yes, and you were the one that brought us all back together." Matt reminded him. "I'll bet that if the same thing happened again, you'd bring us all together again. We're going to stop Mordremon and the other digidestined out of that castle, and you're going to lead the charge. You're still our leader, Tai, with or without the goggles."

"You really think so?" Tai looked hopefully at his best friend.

Matt smiled at Tai for a second before he picked up a nice, flat pebble and handed it to him. Tai flicked the stone out into the water and it skipped along the surface three times before sinking with the now familiar plop.

"Yes, Taichi, I really do."

Tai nodded and stood up, feeling slightly awkward at Matt's sentimentality. As he rose he caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye and instantly forgot his discomfort. The boy turned to look at the patch of water where the movement had originated, but there was nothing. Just calm, bluish-grey water, rippling slightly from currents beneath the surface. Wait - there was a larger ripple just then. There, another one. Slowly the water became more turbulent, as if there were some great battle taking place beneath the surface. Suddenly a lone bubble rose from below and popped. Then another and another, until the surface of the lake was alive with bubbles. And slowly the bubbles began to gravitate towards the boys on the rock.

"Matt, I think we have trouble." Tai muttered under his breath.

"Where?"

"Patch of water over there. I think there's something going on under the water."

"Could be trouble." Matt warned.

"What do you think we should do?" Tai questioned.

"Well, what would a leader do, Kamiya?" Matt asked, flippantly, grinning at his pal.

"Point taken, Ishida." Tai nodded. "Hey, everyone! There's something going on down there!"

The other four friends looked up in alarm as Tai scrambled back towards them.

"What's the trouble, Tai?" Izzy was always the first to ask a question.

"See in the water over there? It's nuts, you'd think someone had a vacuum cleaner under there." Tai grimaced. "I don't want to alarm you all, but it could mean trouble, so be on you guard."

"Should we digivolve?" Agumon asked, looking imploringly at his human friend.

"Yeah, Tai, do you want the digimon at champion or ultimate or something?" Sora cocked her head to the side while she looked at him, as if she was trying to figure something out.

"No, not yet. We don't know whether we're going to need a fight or not." Tai answered, barely thinking about his response before he gave it. "They should save their energy. But if it turns bad we need them ready to digivolve right away."

"Right on." Biyomon nodded. "I'll be ready, don't you worry about that!"

"Oh no, not another fight!" Mimi wailed. "Now we're out in the middle of the lake it'll be really easy for an evil water digimon to come and get us because we can't get out of here. They'll pull us down into the water and it's too far to get back to shore in time and besides that I can't swim!"

"Well I can." Tai told her, firmly, squatting down in front of her. "So I can jump in and save you if anything bad happens. Plus we have digimon like Birdramon, Kabuterimon and Ikkakumon who can help us out. We'll be fine, Mimi, you can trust me."

The pink-haired ditz bit her lip and nodded, almost shyly. "Thanks, Tai."

"Um, speaking of Ikkakumon, what are we going to do about him?" Joe asked, nervously. "If he's still out roaming the lake then how will he know where we are?"

"We can have Kabuterimon or Birdramon fly a sweep to find him." The (formerly) begoggled one assured his friend. "If it's okay with them, that is..."

"No worries!" Biyomon and Tentomon chorused.

"I don't want to interrupt, Tai, but look!" Izzy pointed at the turbulent waters, which had grown even more violent whilst Tai had been talking. There were now ripples and even small waves breaking against the sides of the rock, echoes of the chaos only fifteen metres out. Tai instinctively tensed up as he saw sunlight bouncing off what could have been the tip of a fin as it broke the surface.

"Watch out, everyone, I think we're in for some action." Tai warned his friends, focusing on the water. The bubbling seemed to slow for a moment, as though pausing before the attack. Tai's hand was already edging towards his digivice in case he needed some action.

But he couldn't have been more wrong. With a high-pitched chattering noise, a sleek young Dolphmon launched itself into the air and plunged down again. A split second later another Dolphmon shot into the air, then several more, all chattering and squeaking happily. And from the centre of this happy chaos emerged a smiling Ikkakumon.

"I found a pod of Dolphmon!" Joe's partner cried, as if they hadn't already noticed. "Nothing to worry about. Funny liddle things, aren't they?"

"Er... yeah." Joe agreed, amazed by the acrobatics of the digimon he'd been prepared to battle.

"Well, don't just stand there like stunned mullets, you lot." Ikkakumon sounded annoyed now. "Hop on already, we've got to move."

The kids and monsters all lined up to scramble back on the sea monster's back. The Dolphmon made this something of a challenge at first, but they quickly disappeared as they caught sight of something underwater, perhaps a more interesting game.

"Hey, not a bad job, Kamiya." Yamato muttered, coming right up behind Tai to talk into his ear.

"You've got to be kidding." Taichi growled back. "That was a waste of time. There wasn't even anything wrong."

"But we thought there was." Matt pointed out. "Everyone was pretty worried."

"They were like that before." Tai snorted.

"Maybe so." Matt said, in his deepest voice so that no-one even Gabumon wouldn't hear. "But this time you handled it like a true leader."

Once again, the trip was going swimmingly and all was peaceful for the six digidestined.

For five minutes or so, anyway.

******

Children and digimon alike screamed as Ikkakumon suddenly gave a huge heave, throwing them all off balance. With a strangled cry, Agumon slid down Ikkakumon's side, desperately clawing at the long fur but finding nothing to grip. He sank below the surface, still crying for help.

"Oh no you don't." Tai growled. "Hang on, Agumon, I'm coming!" He grabbed a handful of fur and slid down the monster's side in much the same way Agumon had.

"Be careful, Tai!" Sora yelled after him as the boy disappeared from view almost completely.

Ikkakumon's huge bulk heaved again, nearly jerking Tai into the water. His grip tightened convulsively as he braced himself against the unsteady beast, scanning the water for any sign of his friend. Fortunately, the second shock had brought Agumon closer to them and he had now fought his way back to the surface. But the orange digimon was not built for swimming and his fire-based attacks were of very little use in the water.

"Gotcha!" Tai exclaimed, grasping one of Agumon's slippery hind feet, then nearly losing it as one of his own feet slipped. "What's going on here?!"

"I'm being attacked from beneath." Ikkakumon groaned, shutting his eyes.

"I think it could be Kappamon!" Jyou added. "We're in trouble alright."

"Yes, you most certainly are." Tai shivered when he heard the smooth voice. He strained his head to look towards its source and saw the upper half of Kappamon's body rising above the surface of the lake. "When you're in my domain, _children,_ you're in way over your heads. And you're about to get even deeper."

"You don't scare me." Ikkakumon snarled, glaring at the opposing digimon with a look of pure hatred.

"Oh, don't I? I'll have to do something about that then." Kappamon leered, and vanished under the water. A moment later Tai and Agumon almost fell once more when a blast of water hit Ikkakumon full on.

"I can't take much more of this, Joe." Ikkakumon groaned. "I'm gonna have to digivolve."

"Ikkakumon, you can't!" Agumon screamed, his front claws dangling in the water.

But Ikkakumon had already begun. The water around him swirled violently with the power of the digivolution. Waves lapped against the digimon's side, covering Agumon's head and filling his mouth. Ikkakumon began to grow, the strong features of Zudomon emerging from the champion's body. Tai found himself slipping as the shaggy white fur was replaced by the ultimate digimon's smooth, hard shell. A spike suddenly shot out of the side of his shell, narrowly missing Tai's body. He clawed at it desperately with one hand, still holding Agumon's foot in the other. The rising, splashing water, however, had made the boy and the shell very slick, and they were sliding closer and closer to the surface of the lake. Just as Zudomon completed his transformation and shouted his name, Tai and Agumon plunged into the water.

"Not good!" Tai yelled, trying to stay above the surface with Agumon clinging to his back. "This is really not good!"

"Oops." Zudomon commented. "Sorry, I was in a bit of a hurry there." Zudomon began turning around in the water, trying to reach the pair before Kappamon circled around again. Unfortunately, his massive bulk created a current that swept the two unlucky friends even further from the other digidestined. Agumon clung to Tai more tightly, making the human falter and plunge his head below the water for a few seconds.

"What was that for?" Tai demanded, spitting out the rather foul water.

"Tai, there's something underneath us!" Agumon whispered in terror.

Tai silenced him and floated for a minute, treading water as he carefully watched for any movement below him. Yes, there was something there: the slightest of ripples in the water, disrupting the current caused by Zudomon. It could be anything, of course, not necessarily Kappamon, but you couldn't be too careful. After all, Gomamon had twice reported that Kappamon was an extremely stealthy digimon. And seeing as she had just attacked Zudomon, chances were that she was still hanging around.

"Help us!" Tai yelled to the others on Zudomon's back. "It's Kappamon, she's right underneath me. Help!"

The disturbance in the water was growing, rising toward him from below. Tai could see Biyomon launching herself from Zudomon's back, but he knew she would be too late. They had drifted too far from their friends to hope for help now, and Kappamon was going to zoom up and blast them right about...

In one sudden movement, Taichi and Agumon were lifted completely out of the water and into the fresh air. Biyomon faltered in midair as she saw what was taking place. One of the Dolphmon they had met before had come up underneath their friends and lifted them to safety.

"What the..." Tai instinctively grabbed onto Dolphmon's triangular dorsal fin as he settled onto its back. "What are you doing here?"

"You said you wanted help," Dolphmon squeaked, "so here I am!"

"Um... okay," Tai mumbled, as Agumon released his death grip on the human. "That wasn't exactly what I was thinking of - but thanks all the same."

"No worries." Dolphmon sped easily towards Zudomon and let its passengers depart. "Glad I could help. By the way, Kappamon's around here somewhere, so I'd watch out if I were you!"

"Oh, you noticed." Kappamon said, dryly, appearing behind Dolphmon without any warning whatsoever. "I'll have to be more careful next time."

With a single, fluid movement of her long claws, Kappamon sent the friendly Dolphmon soaring behind her in a huge arc, squealing in terror all the way. Then she turned her attention to the digidestined, who were watching her apprehensively. They had finally reached the other side of the lake, but not the small, bland beach they had intended to land on. Instead, Zudomon found himself and his passengers backed up against the cliffs that took up most of the space this side of the water. The whole crew were now sandwiched between Kappamon and the forbidding rock wall. The other digimon could easily crush them all with a single attack, but like her cruel master she was biding her time.

"Joe, I'm not going to be able to take her." Zudomon growled, watching the other ultimate approach. "Her water attacks are just too powerful."

"What? What are we supposed to do now, then?" Joe asked, frantically.

"We go Mega." Tai told him, firmly. "Agumon, you reckon you can do it?"

"Do I look like I can do it?" Agumon asked. He was stretched out on Zudomon's back, soaking wet and exhausted from his stint in the water.

"Agumon, you have to become WarGreymon." Tai urged. "How can we beat Kappamon without you?"

Izzy shook his head, smiling, and shot a sideways look at Mimi, who nodded doubtfully. "Watch and learn, Taichi. WarGreymon isn't the only Mega on the block anymore. C'mon, Tentomon!"

"Yeah, you show that freak, Palmon!" Mimi agreed, finding some confidence.

Palmon and Tentomon called out the oft repeated digivolving chant and ten seconds later, Rosemon and HerculesKabuterimon were hovering above, dwarfing Zudomon's bulk.

"Whoa!" Tai commented. "Guess I overlooked that."

"Good stuff." Matt and Sora nodded in approval.

"Y'know, HerculesKabuterimon is really ugly." Joe added, mildly, then whimpered as the insect in question turned around and glared at him.

"He gets the job done." Izzy waved a hand airily. "Okay, you go get that stupid monster!"

"I'm stupid now, am I?" Kappamon whispered.

She ducked quickly below the water. Almost immediately a swirling waterspout shot up into the air, blasting HerculesKabuterimon full on. He was big, heavy and tough, but it took him a moment to regain control and hold off the onslaught. Rosemon took full advantage of Kappamon's distraction.

"Thorn whip!" Rosemon's whip flashed down into the water and curled around Kappamon's middle, wrenching her out of the water and into the air and making the rush of water subside.

"That's a nice little trick." Kappamon commented, face to face with her tormentor.

"Glad you liked it." Rosemon shot back, flicking the rapier in her other hand to slash Kappamon's hindquaters. "Do you like this one too?"

"There are things I'd prefer." the grey beast snarled, gritting her teeth against the pain. Quickly retaliating, Kappamon grasped Rosemon's neck in her strong, webbed fingers, forcing the whip to loosen around her waist.

"Oh no you don't!" HerculesKabuterimon roared, reaching for Kappamon with one of his claws.

Kappmon dragged herself free of Rosemon's whip, ignoring the stings of the thorns that had penetrated her skin. She vaulted backwards and landed on HerculesKabuterimon's head, panting slightly. "Really, sir, you underestimate me. I'm quite insulted; you only seem to think in one direction. Try looking down this time."

In dumb obediance, HerculesKabuterimon looked downwards at the lake. Kappamon had somehow created a huge upheaval in the water and an enormous surge was headed for Zudomon and his passengers. Zudomon was already feeling the effects of the disturbance and was having trouble keeping his balance. One particularly strange current slammed him against the cliff, shaking everyone violently.

Gabumon felt a sort of flicker in him mind as the digimon beneath his feet shuddered. Unlike the others, he wasn't unsteadied by the movement at all. As he stared out at the wall of water approaching, he felt an incredibly strong sense of... what was it? Like he had to do something. He was _supposed_ to do something. Make it all okay. Help... stop the wave. Stop it from crushing everyone; he was supposed to protect them.

Protect Matt.

Without another thought, Gabumon hurled himself off Zudomon's back and towards the surface of the lake. Strange words burst involuntarily from his mouth. Strange, but somehow familiar, too.

"Gabumon, warpdigivolve to..." He was growing now. Changing, becoming more powerful. Much more powerful. Maybe now he could stop the wave. It should have felt weird, but it wasn't. It was familiar, like the words. And more than that. It was right.

"MetalGarurumon!" The huge wolf digimon hovered just a little above the water. Yes, he remembered it all now. He knew what to do. "Ice Wold Claw!"

A torrent of power burst from his open mouth and hit the approaching wall of water, freezing it solid. He stood for a moment, panting, and watched the ise slowly crumble and dissolve harmlessly in the water. He found his way back to Zudomon, moving as though he was in a dream. Exhausted, the giant collapsed and slowly reverted back to Tsunomon, just as he had been the day he found Matt.

Yes, he remembered that day.

"Well done." Matt smiled, picking up the little digimon. "I guess this means you remember everything now, huh?"

"Every little detail." Tsunomon smiled. "And I don't ever want to forget it again."

Kappamon snorted as she watched the miniature celebrations of the digidestined as they realised they had been saved from certain death once again. She knew HerculesKabuterimon and Rosemon would rub her snout in it all if she gave them one more second to think about it, so she acted as quickly as she could.

"Freeze!" she cried, raking her claws down HerculesKabuterimon's head and continuing down his back. The ugly insect suddenly found himself unable to move. "Gotcha." she whispered, before dealing him a heavy blow with her tail. He cleverly de-digivolved to Tentomon on the way down and flew to Zudomon before collapsing, so as not to create another wave. Well, she'd get them soon enough.

"We're not done yet." Rosemon announced, as Kappamon dove towards the water once more (she did not, as yet, posess the power of flight).

"What's left to do?" Kappamon asked, mildly.

Rosemon flicked out her whip again in reply. Kappamon hit the water and emerged immediately, reachign out and allowing the whip to curl around her wrist. She yanked violently downwards, pulling Rosemon off guard. Kappamon swiftly began pulling the whip in like a fishing line, only to find it dissolving in her hands as Rosemon de-digivolved, giving up as easily as her friend.

The water digimon smiled to herself. She had them where she wanted them now. She could do anything she wanted to these weaklings. But for some reason, Kappamon didn't feel like killing today. Mordremon didn't hold with killing unnecessarily, and Kappamon held Mordremon in high regard.

She dove beneath the water, using every trick she knew to reach the digidestined as quickly as she could. Summoning all her remaining strength, she gathered the water around her for a final attack. She'd have to let them go for a while so she could recharge. Pity, she wasn't really all that fond of fighting, but sometimes there was no alternative. Kappamon closed her eyes, feeling the power of the waters flowing above and below and through her, and said the word.

"Whirlpool!"

A pillar of water rocketed into the air, carrying Zudomon and his passengers with it. They were plunged back into the water, but pushed along with the current at such a rate that no-onw could see or hear or think. The roaring waters were everywhere, clouding everything, and each of the crew thought they must be drowning. And suddenly, it ceased. There was solid ground beneath their feet and the water was quickly draining away.

"Are we there?" Tai asked, groggily, climbing to his feet. "Did we do it? Did we reach the mountain?"

Joe wondered the same thing, but couldn't answer it while he searched for his glasses in the mud. Having found them, the boy wiped the worst of the mud off, pushed them onto his face and peered hopefully across the water. But his hope sank into the mud with his shoes when he realised he was staring at the same old mountain from the same old place.

"Nope." he sighed. "We have to start all over again."

~~~~~~

As usual, that took much longer than it should have. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Was that too predictable? Was it predictable at all? I'm just asking because I read a really predictable fanfic just before and I've become terrified of becoming predictable.

Oh well. See you later.


	16. Fire and Ice

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

Yes, a short one this time.

It's been a long time. Gomen nasai, minna. I've been sick, pity me. Other fics will be updated... well... soonish. But this one's here now. Oh, and don't complain 'till you've read the footnote. Thank you.

**Chapter 16 - Fire and water**

After wasting a considerable amount of time lying around in the sun (Tai insisted that they had to 'dry out') the digidestined were finally ready to make another attempt at crossing the lake. It had to be done and there was no point wasting time, but the occupants were obviously going to be a lot more trouble than they had originally anticipated.

"So what are we going to do about her?" Sora demanded, once Taichi mentioned Kappamon's hostility.

"Well, I guess we just fight her again." he shrugged.

"Oh, like we did last time? That sure turned out well." Mimi snorted.

"Hey, that last battle wasn't all bad." Matt argued as he wandered up with Tsunomon tucked under his arm. "At least now Gabumon can fight too. One more digimon is something of an advantage."

"You got it." Biyomon agreed.

"I don't know." Izzy frowned. "We had three Mega digimon up against Kappamon earlier: Rosemon, MetalGarurumon and HerculesKabuterimon. Of those three Megas, Rosemon and HerculesKabuterimon retreated before they were beaten. MetalGarurumon exhausted himself before he even came into contact with Kappamon."

"Hey, I'd only just remembered my own name." Tsunomon protested. "How d'you expect me to fight a digimon like her in that condition?"

"Yes, I know," Izzy conceded, "but I'm trying to say that maybe we don't have the power to beat Kappamon. If two mega digimon can't beat an ultimate one..."

"We'll have more firepower next time." Tai assured him. "MetalGarurumon should be back to full fighting strength by now."

"And I'll be able to help next time too." Agumon added. "I would have before, of course, but I was all wet and I'd used up all my energy swimming - which is really hard!"

"I don't know, I really don't." Izzy shook his head. "If Rosemon and HerculesKabuterimon are defeated so easily maybe Kappamon is too powerful even for WarGreymon."

Tai immediately strode over to Izzy with a menacing glare. "Hey, WarGreymon's no weakling, you know."

"Of course, of course I know that, Tai!" Izzy hastily amended. "I'm just trying to explain the situation as best I can so we're all prepared."

"I don't see what all the fuss is, myself." Biyomon ruffled her feathers and looked up. "If I digivolved I could carry everyone across this lake in no time. It'd be faster than riding Ikkakumon and we wouldn't have to worry about what's under the water."

"Good point." Matt agreed. "Why fight her and risk losing when we could hitch a ride with Birdramon?"

"Because she's not going to go away." Joe answered. Everyone turned to look at him.

Joe had been listening to the whole conversation without comment. He hadn't been too talkative since they'd all been washed up by Kappamon. At that very moment he was sitting at the water's edge, just staring. It was as though he'd been trying to figure something out, something that none of his friends could help him with. Even he didn't really know what it was. But now it was as though he had just glimpsed the very edge of whatever it was he was trying to see.

"We can't ignore Kappamon now, because she'll only bother us again later." Joe repeated. "Do you remember when we were inside Mordremon's castle, only a few weeks ago? Remember the digimon she had with her?"

"Cronomon? And that creepy Phantomon?" Mimi suggested.

"Well, yes, there were those two," Joe admitted. "but I was thinking more of the four fighters. Remember the ones we met on the way up the mountain? They were in her throne room too. Tauromon, Serpentmon, Kappamon and Banemon. The first two we've already taken care of, but Banemon's still roaming around and we saw Kappamon just this morning."

"So? What's you're point?" Tai asked, sceptically.

"My point is that these four are extremely faithful to their master and would defend her by whatever means possible. If we let Kappamon go now then she'll only be back to fight us again when we finally reach the castle and try to defeat Mordremon herself. We can fight her now, while we still have time to spare, or later when we're hanging by a thread. I think I'd prefer to get it over and done with."

"He's got a point." Sora agreed.

"If we have to fight, I suppose now is as good as ever." Mimi sighed, reluctantly.

"I've got no complaints." Matt shrugged.

"So long as we get the job done." Tai nodded. "Izzy?"

"It's a good idea, Joe," Izzy said, slowly, "but it's the fighting itself that could be the problem. She's got so much power when she's in the water, but the only digimon we have that can swim is Gomamon."

"What if we could get her out of the water?" Joe suggested.

Izzy opened his mouth to say something, then quickly shut it again. He quickly pulled out his laptop and began typing frantically. For once nothing seemed to be going too easily for Koushiro; he was frowning in concentration as he stared as the small screen. Whatever code he was trying to hack through must have been a real doozy.

"What exactly are you doing, Izzy?" Tai had always been curious about the workings of Izzy's mind.

"I think that there might be a way we can catch Kappamon out," Izzy informed everyone, his eyes not leaving the screen. "Remember how there are weak spots in the digital programming? Like we used at Etemon's pyramid?"

"Yeah, I remember." Sora nodded, shooting a dirty look at Tai. "You think we might have the same thing here?"

"I'm hoping so." Koushiro nodded. "There's an unusual power source emanating from inside the mountain. If we could get inside then we might be able to tap into it somehow and use it to defeat Kappamon and perhaps the other digimon as well. I'm scanning through the digital programming in those cliffs to look for weak points - but there don't seem to be any. This area is unusually well constructed."

With a loud splash, Gomamon dove into the water. Listening to Izzy's last comment he remembered something the Dolphmon had told him before. He hadn't paid much attention to it before, but now he realised that it might be of some value.

******

"Yeah, sure, I'll show you the place." Dolphmon conceded. "It's not too far from here. Why are you so interested, anyway?"

"Well, one of the humans reckons there's some sorta power source inside the mountain." Gomamon replied. "An' I thought that maybe we could get to it if you showed me this place."

"Don't see how." Dolphmon muttered. "The water can't go in, so I don't know how you could. But if you want to have a go, you're welcome. It's right up there."

"What are you waiting for, let's go have a look!" Gomamon cried, when the Dolphmon refused to go any further.

"No way, mate," his friend refused, "Kappamon hangs 'round there sometimes."

"She ever go in?"

"Nope. Don't think she knows it's there. You can't _see_ it, Gomamon."

"How did you find it then?"

"Like this."

Dolphmon concentrated for a moment, then suddenly made a bunch of clicking noises. A moment later the sounds bounced back, and Gomamon realised that they made a sort of sketchy picture. There was a hole in the cliff, right ahead! But he was looking at a solid wall of rock. There must be some sort of passage there.

"How do you _do_ that?" Gomamon gasped.

"Echolocation." Dolphmon replied, smugly. "Quite handy at times."

"Can you teach me how to do it?"

"'S not something you can learn. I'll bet you could figure it out if you really wanted to." Dolphmon winked. "Now, I'm getting outta here before Kappamon comes back. Good luck to you and your mates."

"Thanks." Gomamon yelled after him, and started speeding back towards the shore.

******

"I've got it!" Gomamon cried, leaping out of the water and crawling over to Izzy and his computer.

"Got what?" Joe asked, with a blank look.

"I know how we can get inside the mountain." Gomamon explained, jumping from foot to foot in excitement. "Izzy, scan the part of the cliff that's underwater. That part right ahead of us, below the cove." He pointed one claw towards the opposite bank, to a little section that had been worn down.

"Okay, I'll try." Izzy said, doubtfully, scanning through the code in front of him. "Let's see, there are some fish there, a Dolphmon nicking off, little cave there... is that what you're talking about?"

"No, you're too low." Gomamon shook his head. "Can't you use a picture out of all this techno-garbage?"

"I find it easier to work with base programming." Izzy sniffed.

"And I find it easier working with something I can see." Gomamon countered. "C'mon, I'm trying to help."

"Oh, alright." Izzy sighed, translating the foreign characters into a visual image.

Gomamon's eyes zipped back and forth over the image before him, trying to remember the features he'd seen just a minute ago. There was a ledge there, that seemed a little familiar... no, he was looking for something with vertical ridges, it wasn't flat... perhaps a little to the left...

"Try there." the digimon jabbed at a spot on the screen. "Look at the code there."

With a few clicks of the mouse Izzy had re-entered the bare bones of the huge program, a language only he could comprehend. He gasped as he reached what he was looking for.

"Yes, there's definitely a break in the programming here." he announced. "It's a little more complex than most, though. Almost as though it was put there deliberately. Quite unusual. Perhaps there's some sort of force field..."

"What makes you say that?" Matt asked, suspiciously. "Is there a problem?"

"You could say that." Izzy nodded, grimly. "See, the hole is underwater, but the water doesn't go in. That means that although there's no rock, there could be something holding the water back."

"Which would keep us out." Joe finished.

"Not necessarily." Izzy kept going. "There's a loophole that might let living things through. It could be designed so that the digital interpretations of biological makeup could bypass the preventive devices would be -"

"That means we can get through, right?" Tai asked, one eyebrow raised. "You can just say it in plain English."

"That was English." Izzy muttered, blushing.

"Forget it." Tentomon advised his partner. "What matters is whether or not we can stop Kappamon."

"Well, some of us will be able to enter, but it looks like this particular gate is only going to let half of our group through." the computer kid announced, at last.

"Bummer." Tai commented. "So, who gets the honours?"

"I bags not me!" Mimi yelled, immediately.

"That was quick." Sora said, dryly.

"Who else, though?" Gabumon asked.

"Perhaps not you, Gabumon, you're still not at full power." Matt advised.

"True." Taichi nodded, switching to leader mode. "Gomamon and Joe will have to go, because Gomamon's the only one who can swim. Izzy and Tentomon should go too, since Izzy knows all about this weird stuff. The power source and all that."

"Who else?" Sora asked. "Just me and you left."

"Does it matter?" Tai shrugged. "We'll just toss a coin."

"Can I interrupt?" Joe asked, raising his hand. "If it's okay with Sora, I thin maybe we should keep her above water, just for backup. If we need help, then she and Birdramon can get there the fastest. Can't you?"

"Sure." Sora nodded. "No problem. I guess you're it, Tai."

"Guess so." Tai agreed. "You got any objections, Agumon?"

"Um... yeah, I do actually." Agumon confessed. "How are we going to get there? Seeing as it's underwater and all..."

"Oh. Problem." Izzy realised. "How are we going to _breathe_ down there?"

"I guess you'll just have to hang onto me." Gomamon said, slowly. "I can digivolve to Ikkakumon and you can all hang onto my fur while I find the spot. You'll have to hold your breaths down there, but I can be real fast."

"I guess it could work." Agumon said, still sounding doubtful.

"We'll be on call if anything goes wrong." Biyomon assured him. "Ikkakumon will send a Harpoon Torpedo up in the air if you run into trouble and the rest of us will be there right away."

"Oh, I suppose." Agumon sighed.

"Well, we're all set to go then." Tai grinned, rubbing his hands together with anticipation.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by a harsh noise from Izzy's computer. The owner of the machine rushed over and began frantically working away, his expression becoming more worried with every passing moment.

"Gomamon, I think you'd better digivolve right away." he said, looking pale.

"Why? What's the matter?"

"We've got a fish on the line." he announced, grimly. "Kappamon's hanging around near our entrance. We've got to draw her in there with us, remember. And we may never get another chance this good."

******

Ikkakumon wasted no time in setting out for the destination. He had a fairly good idea where he was going and Izzy helped to navigate using various maps on his laptop. They carried on uninterrupted by Kappamon for most of the trip - but, strangely enough, there was no sign of any other marine digimon either. There was barely a ripple to break the surface except for those cast by Ikkakumon himself.

It may not seem like such a big thing to most people; we aren't water dwellers and don't really think of calm lakes as very lively places. But for the whole day Ikkakumon had been used to the myriad of signs - currents, temperatures and the like - that indicated the activities of the many creatures that lived below the surface. But for some reason things had become very quiet and they got more and more so the closer he got to the cliffs. He couldn't help remembering how similar it had been when Kappamon attacked; there was no warning whatsoever. She hadn't disturbed the water at all. It was almost as though the other digimon was part of the water, not just a creature living in it.

"We'll be there in a minute," Izzy warned, tersely. "I think we're getting near the entrance to Ikkakumon's cave. Just go to the left a fraction. Yep, that's the spot."

"Hang on tight, everyone," Ikkakumon commanded, "and hold your breath. I'm going under."

The water digimon could feel the tug of the five others clinging to his shaggy fur. In an instant he was painfully aware of how dependant they were on him. If he stuffed up down there then they'd drown, all five of them. He had to get this right, he just _had_ to.

He submerged himself and felt Jyou's grip tightening instinctively. He scanned the forbidding wall of rock, searching desperately for the weak spot. It had seemed so simple when he was there with the Dolphmon, but now the whole thing just looked the same. Well, he was probably at about the right depth...

Ikkakumon shot forward and pressed himself against the rocks. He browsed up and down, becoming more panicked as he went along. The huge digimon found his thoughts chasing themselves in a feverish circle. It was going to be the next spot he tried, or the one after that... any second now his paw was going to go right through and his friends would breathe again...

The big guy faltered as one foot went right through, sending him way off balance. He'd found the entrance! But he barely had time to celebrate before something slammed into his side with incredible power. Ikkakumon was winded, all the carefully stored air forced from his lungs. Struggling to see, he laboriously made his way to the surface and gulped in the fresh air. Those buried in his fur did the same, relieved to be free of what must seem like an airless prison. He'd found the spot, but what had hit him? Who would want to attack him from there?

Who else?

"What just happened down there?" Kappamon demanded, appearing right before the shaggy monster's eyes.

"You hit me." Ikkakumon gasped.

"Oh, don't play dumb," the ultimate snapped, "I saw you step through the cliff. You went right through solid rock! How did you do that?"

"I guess you don't know this place as well as you'd like to think." Jyou commented.

"Nobody knows the lake like I do!" Kappamon defiantly proclaimed. "Nobody!"

"But do you know what it is?" Izzy asked. "Do you know how it got here, or why it is here? Do you know why we came, Kappamon? Why did you?"

"I... I never..."

"There are still many mysteries, my dear," Ikkakumon told her, with a touch of sarcasm.

"I don't understand." Kappamon looked downright miserable now.

"You have to look beyond the rocks and the waves," was the reply, "there's more to it than that."

"Like what?"

"Why don't you come and see?" Ikkakumon growled. The challenge hung in the air, taunting the confused and scared Kappamon.

"You're on." she whispered, and promptly disappeared.

"Ready, gang?" Tai yelled. He nodded his approval to Ikkakumon. "Well handled, mate. Now, let's move!"

For the second time, Ikkakumon dipped into the lake. He look around carefully as he made his way to the cliff's weak spot. Kappamon had to be in here somewhere; she couldn't have gotten away that quickly. But why couldn't he see her? Why was she always invisible when his eyes were clouded by water?

Couldn't worry about that now. Ikkakumon found the weak spot in the cliff and hoisted himself away from the water and into dry air again. The shaggy monster had carried them to a narrow stone passage that seemed to stretch far back into the mountain, dimly lit by an unseen light source. His surface-dwelling passengers quickly dropped away, exhausted. They all lay there for a few minutes, recovering from the rather severe oxygen deprivation. He de-digivolved and waited patiently for them to calm down.

"What happened to Kappamon?" Tai asked at last.

"Beats me." Gomamon shrugged. "She's a funny one. Maybe she decided to give us a head start. Who knows?"

"I don't think she'd give up that easily." Agumon disagreed, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh, she's out there alright." Izzy had somehow managed to find a watertight case for his laptop and had already begun to work with it again. "Just taking her time. Or perhaps she wasn't watching and she couldn't see where we went -"

The red-head and his computer were interrupted by a loud hissing noise. Agumon had spat a fireball at the wall of water behind them and it erupted into an angry cloud of steam. Kappamon, who had been trying to make a quiet entrance, realised her cover had been blown and lunged from behind the curtain of vapour. Her intended victims scattered in confusion, trying to avoid her seeking claws.

There was a brief moment of chaos before Taichi banded all the digidestined. They were pressed against one of the tunnel's roughly-hewn stone walls, eyeing the lithe sea monster warily. Kappamon was almost as fast on land as she was in water, but she was far easier to keep an eye on. She was slinking back and forth in the darkness as though trying to taunt and intimidate her opponents. She seemed to have completely forgotten her uncertainties on the surface only a few minutes before.

"Well, here we are, Kappamon," Gomamon spoke up.

"Some mystery," the female snorted, "a tunnel with spooky lighting. I should have known better than to expect to get any excitement from you."

"We're not done yet," Gomamon shook his head. "We haven't seen what's down the tunnel. Don't you want to know what other mysteries this place holds?"

"What does it matter?" Kappamon sounded angry, but also a little resigned. "I don't need to know. I'm here to do a job and it's not to explore some rock. I can't waste time on curiosity when I should be fighting you!"

The sinuous one made a sudden lunge towards the digidestined group but her charge was halted as Greymon and Kabuterimon stepped up to retrain her.

"Get moving," Greymon growled, moving to block off one side of the tunnel.

"No, not to the water." Kabuterimon grunted as Gomamon got ready to digivolve again. "Head the other way. Down the tunnel. See what there is to see."

"No!" Kappamon cried, a crazed look on her normally calm face. "No, I'll get you this time digidestined. I'll kill you all!" She lashed out at Greymon with her tail and moved towards the humans again, but the two champion digimon moved to block her off.

"Hurry!" Greymon urged, a tiny flame trickling from his mouth.

Tai and Izzy set off down the tunnel without another word. Joe scooped up Gomamon and pelted after them, panting heavily. He was terrified. What if they were trapped down in this tunnel forever? He'd never been underground before but he must be developing claustrophobia. Oh, how could Tai and Izzy keep up this pace? Joe was already out of breath and the end of the tunnel didn't seem to be getting any closer. That is, if there was an end to this thing. Although, the air they were breathing seemed pretty fresh, so there must be an exit somewhere, or at least a vent.

Hey, he'd just cheered himself up!

As they rounded a corner there was a particularly loud roar from one of the battling digimon. Feeling something cold on his ankle, Joe looked down to see a hissing wave of water creeping up the tunnel from behind them. Had they broken the force field (or whatever it was) keeping the lake water out? No, they'd all be crushed by now if that were the case. Kappamon must have used one of her water attacks on Greymon and Kabuterimon.

"Doesn't look good!" Taichi yelled from up ahead. "If she can do that then she could flood us all out. This mightn't have been a very good plan after all. We have to keep going and find another way out."

"What if there isn't another way out?!" Joe demanded, sounding panicky.

"Then we're all gonna die." Gomamon answered, impatiently. "So don't think about it, okay?"

"That's really not very comforting," Joe grumbled. "Would it cost you anything to be sympathetic for once?"

"It'd cost me my pride."

"Such a tragedy."

"Yes, it would be, wouldn't it?" Gomamon stopped and sniffed the air suddenly. "Hey, did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"The air's getting warmer." the digimon informed him. "I think we're getting somewhere."

The tunnel began to widen as the water lapped against Joe's feet again. The group finally found themselves in a huge cavern with a floor sloping slightly upwards and receding far back into the darkness. Nobody could see the other walls, but you could just tell that it was a big area.

"Keep going!" Tai ordered. "There might be a way out on the other side."

But the leader had to halt his fearless charge when a wall of fire sprang up in front of him halfway across the cavern (well, it seemed like halfway - it's a little hard to tell when you can't see the other side). His eyes were wide with shock as he realised how close he was to getting roasted.

"What the..." Izzy stared blankly at the flames for a moment before pulling Taichi away.

"I-I don't know, it came from nowhere." Tai babbled, watching the flames die back before flaring up again.

"We can sort that out later." Joe yelled. "Let's try to head back the other way. We obviously can't get through here."

No sooner had the humans (and Gomamon) started to turn back than Greymon and Kabuterimon. came barrelling up behind them. They stumbled into the cavern, their huge bulk giving the illusion that even the solid stone walls trembled a little as they ran.

"Sorry, we just couldn't hold her off any longer." Greymon panted. "There was no room for us to digivolve back in the tunnel."

"But we could go all the way to Mega in here." Kabuterimon suggested, as he and Greymon dwindled back down to Tentomon and Agumon.

"I don't think so." Kappamon whispered, looking almost vulnerable in the bright light from the flames. "I don't know what's going on here. I've come through what looked like solid rock to some weird tunnel and now there's a fire that just popped out from nowhere."

"You're scared." Gomamon taunted. "Kappamon, you're scared 'coz you don't understand. None of us get it either, but you don't see us taking it out on you, so shut up, will ya?"

"I will not, you insolent creature." The wraithlike digimon hissed. "I'm here to destroy you fools, and that's exactly what I intend to do."

She raised her grey, scaled arms upwards, stretching towards the roof. In the background an ominous roaring and crashing sound could be heard. Water began lapping at her feet and speeding up as it reached the cavern. Kappamon's eyes were reduced almost to slits as she regarded the digidestined again.

"I control the waters here. They do what I command. And in just a few moments they'll rush in here and kill you all. My only job is to destroy you, but I intend to do it well."

Gomamon could feel the hair rising on his back. He was so furious just then he thought he could have defeated Kappamon if only he were stronger. He knew he probably didn't have a chance; after all, the wench had beaten two Mega digimon single handed so even Zudomon wouldn't have a chance.

He looked up at Joe and was shocked to see the same determination in the human's eyes. All traces of fear or hesitation were gone from Joe's face, replaced by total confidence in his ability to face this new challenge with all the courage he could muster. Gomamon suddenly found himself thinking that maybe - just maybe - they could win. 

"We _can_ win." Joe muttered to his digimon partner. "There's a way. There's always a way out." 

"Then what is it?" Gomamon asked, quietly. Joe's newfound confidence was reassuring, but he still didn't know what hope they could possibly have. 

"I'm not exactly sure." Joe murmured. "I have a feeling that this place... it's important somehow. We've been here before, or at least been told about it..." 

The waters were creeping further and further up the cavern. The raging torrent had filled most of the tunnel, which they could now see by the light of the fire, but Kappamon was holding them at bay. She seemed to like keeping them in suspense. She was the sort of digimon, Joe guessed, that liked to be in control. Just like a lot of humans. But nobody could control everything; you can't hold back the tides. Not even Kappamon had that sort of power. 

Joe snapped out of his little reverie, trying to think. Whenever he tried to plan something out his mind just sort of went blank. He could see Izzy bending over his computer as Tai fed him steady stream of instructions, Agumon and Tentomon discussing battle options... but Joe was sitting there doing nothing. 

"Just relax," he said, quietly, to Gomamon. "This is out of our hands now." 

"Yeah. I know." Gomamon admitted. "Something's going to happen, isn't it?" 

Something did happen, just at that moment. The first tentative wave of water washed gently over his claws. Then a slightly stronger surge dampened his legs and belly. A third, much stronger one (Kappamon was getting bored) covered Gomamon's back and clashed against the forbidding wall of flames, hissing violently and sending huge clouds of steam rolling over the group. 

There was something uncanny about that fire. And that water. Gomamon coughed as the heavy vapour rolled over him, almost burning the fur on his head. An angry buzzing sound filled his ears as he hunkered down so that only his eyes were above the surface. He took a deep breath, drawing energy from the water around him, and squinted through the haze at Kappamon. He saw her thrust her arms forward, ordering the waters to come down and crush them at last. Gomamon wouldn't stand for it. It was his turn this time. 

"Gomamon, warp digivolve to..." 

As the water rushed forward like an army released to battle, Gomamon grew. He flicked his long, rapidly growing tail away from the fire that now stretched across the cavern, a forbidding barrier. His paws were flippers now, long and broad. A domed shell covered his back, rimmed with spikes around the edge. And his long neck arced upwards and then curled back down, bringing his elegant head towards the water. The waters had stopped rushing into the cave now as Kappamon stared at him in alarm. This new digimon shuffled forward and peered at his enemy (who now looked a lot less threatening) through his dark eyes and grinned a toothy grin. 

"Plesiomon!" 

Plesiomon was only about the size of Zudomon, maybe a little smaller, but his long neck and tail made him look huge. The water wasn't bothering him much now; a lot of it had been evaporated by the fire anyway. He curled his tail protectively around his friends and bent his head towards them.

"Hey, do me a favour and climb on my back, will you? I don't want you lot getting crushed or anything." the gigantic Mega grinned. As the smaller ones clambered onto the shell a dome of blue light surrounded them, just like when they had ridden Imperialdramon last Christmas. His companions taken care of, Plesiomon turned back to Kappmon.

"You don't scare me." the watergoing demon snarled. "I can still beat you,"

"It's quite strange, Kappamon," Plesiomon said, pleasantly, still with that infuriating grin, "When I first met you I thought you were such a calm digimon. It seems when you're scared you have less control over your anger than Tauromon did. How... disappointing."

"Don't you talk about Tauromon to me," Kappamon ordered, her voice dangerously quiet.

"What's the matter? You two have a fight or something? Mordremon like him better than you, did she?" Plesiomon taunted.

Kappamon clenched her webbed hands into fists and glared at him defiantly. "I thought you were one of the good guys," she shouted, a tiny tremor in her voice, "Have you no respect for the dead?"

"What the..." Plesiomon drew back in surprise, as did his friends. "I-I'm sorry, Kappamon, I didn't realise you were so... um... that you cared so... well..."

"He was my friend," Kappamon choked; peering closer, Plesiomon was amazed to see tears in her eyes. "We're all friends. And we were all wanderers before Dar... before Mordremon brought us together. We all love her, and each other. We were happy."

"I never realised." Plesiomon whispered. Kappamon went on as though she hadn't heard him.

"Now you digidestined are breaking that up. You've killed Tauromon and Serpentmon, and now I suppose you're going to try to kill me." she spat.

"It doesn't have to be that way. This is the digital world, remember? Tauromon and Serpentmon will be back one day. That is, if your friend Mordremon didn't insist on her cockamamie plan..."

"Maybe it would be better if she did. Why is it such a great thing to be able to live forever?"

Plesiomon wriggled his flippers, the closest he could get to a shrug. "That's the way the digital world is. Nobody has any right to change it, least of all Mordremon."

Kappamon laughed, a derisive, humourless chuckle. "That's what everyone says. That's what Mordremon's trying to show all these foolish digimon. They'll get sick of it one day, you'll see."

"But if it weren't that way, you'd never see Tauromon again."

"If it weren't that way, Mordremon wouldn't have to make it that way and he wouldn't have died anyway."

"If Mordremon hadn't tried to -"

"Just stop it!" Kappamon cried, exasperated. "Why talk about the 'if's? Tauromon died serving Mordremon, who helped me just as she helped him and all the rest of us. All of us - Tauromon, Serpentmon, Banemon and me - do whatever we can to help her, including supporting her 'cockamamie' plan. Like I said before, I have a job to do."

"Have you no will of your own?" Plesiomon whispered, swinging his head down to look her in the eye.

Kappamon's expression melted into the calm, blank face that Plesiomon had seen the first time he met her. She seemed relaxed now, but Plesiomon could still see her hands trembling slightly. Nevertheless, the girl held her ground. She was a game one, all right.

"You're out of line, Plesiomon." she informed him in a neutral voice. "Nobody plays mind games with a virus type." Kappamon raised her arms and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Whirlpool!"

The rush of water started again, thundering down the tunnel and crashing against Plesiomon's body, though his friends were protected by the blue shield of light on his back. He knew that it would evaporate eventually with the fire barrier behind him, but it was hard to bear the brunt of all this pressure. He didn't have to sit there and take it any more, though. He was powerful now, he was a Mega.

"Ocean Blue!" He roared, deadly serious now. A sea of blue light welled up around him, forcing the water back. He and Kappamon shot through the tunnel, pushed by the sheer pressure of Plesiomon's odd attack. They were plunged into the water, but before Kappamon could disappear he clamped his jaws around her and propelled himself to the surface with his powerful flippers. It was time to finish the job.

******

Birdramon was patrolling the skies above the lake with Sora, Yamato, Gabumon, Mimi and Palmon on her back. The other half of their group had been gone for several hours and they were becoming a little concerned. Exploring a cave that was way below sea level with a murderous demon chasing after you isn't the safest of pasttimes.

Of course, they needn't have worried.

And none of those present that day would ever forget the sight of that battle. It was one of those images that just burns itself onto your mind. A digimon shaped like a prehistoric monster, with two digimon and three humans in a capsule on its back, rising from the depths of the lake was truly magnificent. The way it held the elusive but deadly Kappamon squirming in its mouth was truly satisfying.

But nothing compared to the way Plesiomon flicked his head back and flung Kappamon high into the air and blasted her with a blindingly white beam of light from his mouth.

It was the death of a daunting and deadly opponent, one that had teased and taunted them for what seemed like much longer than a day. She would come back one day; all digimon did. For now, however, she was defeated, and it was a glorious victory indeed.

~~~~~~

I know what you're thinking: _Hey, I thought Gomamon's mega was MarineAngemon!_ Yes, in the card game that's one digivolution of Zudomon. However, the D-terminal thingy says that the actual mega, for Joe's Gomamon anyway, is Preciomon or Plesiomon, based on a prehistoric marine animal called Plesiosaurus. I don't know what it looks like or what the attacks are, but I made them up by combining my knowledge of dinosaurs with some imagination. I suppose I could have used MarineAngemon, but I think it looks pretty wimpy. It doesn't suit Gomamon. Or the fic. If you have any more jibes about this little problem, please e-mail me and I'll tell you why I did this in three hundred pages instead of a paragraph. Thank you and goodnight.


	17. There and back again

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon. Not one little bit of it. DON'T YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT BY NOW???

Sorry.

This chapter jumps around a lot, from the kitchens of Mordremon's castle to Primary Village. The first half was written on various plane trips to, from and around the USA so please forgive the randomness.

**Chapter 17 – There and back again**

A metallic grating noise tore through the kitchen's heavy silence as Phantomon dragged open the cumbersome iron door. Inside the cupboard, Veemon paused, his cheeks stuffed with banana muffins. The little blue digimon spun around and scanned the darkened shelves for his companion.

"Wormmon!" he hissed, "The chef's on the way. Get out of there!"

"I'm sorry, my friend," the insect sighed, "but I don't think that's going to be very easy."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... I think I may have been enjoying my food a little too much." Wormmon definitely sounded guilty now.

Squinting upwards, Veemon finally managed to spot his little green friend. Wormmon's head and first pair of legs were protruding from a hole he'd chewed in a large box of breadcrumbs. The soft-spoken one had a worried look on his face, but smiled apologetically when he met Veemon's eyes.

"I'm very sorry, Veemon," he repeated, but I've eaten more than my share. I didn't know breadcrumbs could be so fattening."

"Meaning..." Veemon raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"I'm stuck."

Cocking his head to one side, Veemon listened carefully to the sounds outside. Judging by the puffing, grunting and swearing, Phantomon was now attempting to shut the door again. Heavy as it was, he figured that they didn't have a lot of time left. With a sigh on resignation he swallowed the last of the muffing and grabbed at the shelf above him, determined to assist his engorged friend.

"I don't know why you couldn't just eat your way out." he grumbled, tugging at the box.

Wormmon said nothing, straining to free himself from his cardboard confines.

"I mean, that's how you got in, isn't it?" Veemon continued. "Eating? And you ate plenty while you were burrowing away in there..."

"You could be a little more encouraging." Wormmon snapped. He had now managed to squeeze another segment of his creepy-crawly body from the box and his third pair of legs was scrabbling at the edges.

"Okay then, I _encourage_ you never to do this again." The little blue guy shrugged. "Honestly, I though that you of all digimon would know better than to-"

"Quiet!" Wormmon hissed, as another stubby leg popped out.

The two digimon listened intently and to their horror they heard the kitchen door finally dropping into its frame. A panicky Veemon gripped the edge of the hole and pulled hard just as Wormmon heaved himself forward. With a loud tearing noise, the side panel of the troublesome box came away completely. A rather plump green caterpillar tumbled out amidst a shower of crumbs, which poured out onto the shelf, a few fragments dropping to the floor.

Wormmon swore quietly under his breath. For a few moments Veemon glared at him, but then he smiled.

"And a pile of pink poop to you too." he muttered, still listening carefully. He relaxed as he heard a squeaking noise, followed by the sound of running water filling up Phantomon's sink.

"What'd you go ripping up the box for? We could have been caught!"

"This from the 'mon who was cursing us into digi-dust." Veemon snorted. "Relax, we'll be fine."

It was unfortunate for the two digimon that they had forgotten about Phantomon's peculiar physiology. Veemon had so far done very well by relying on his hearing to warn him of his enemy's movements. But though the little blue monster was a bringer of luck, that gift would to nothing to help him now.

For though he could heft doors, lock bolts and turn taps, Phantomon hovered above the ground rather than walking or standing on it. He made no footsteps, and a gliding monster makes no more sound than a ghost. So when he left the tap running and crossed the room to access his food store, Veemon and Wormmon know nothing of his approach until a crack of light appeared at the edge of the creaky sliding door.

The entrance to the escape tunnel was well beyond the reach of the two rookies. In one lighting fast action, Veemon grabbed Wormmon around the middle, dragging his friend over the edge of the shelf. The pair landed heavily next to a crate of raisins and quickly scurried behind it just as Phantomon lost all patience with the door and turned the whole thing to matchsticks.

*******

Down at the other end of the line, life wasn't nearly so exciting. Davis seemed quite reluctant to recover from his stomach ache, although he still managed to lick his plate clean at every meal. Ken and TK had taken to playing hockey with a couple of brooms and a bar of soap, finding that cabbages did not make very good basketballs. This was causing quite a few problems as the goals seemed to change every five minutes and they tended to get pretty rough. Yolei didn't mind, though; she was too busy redecorating the bathroom to be injured by the boys with brooms. Cody had no complaints, either, as he had devoted all his time to carving his life story into the wall with a fork. What with the digimon constantly either invading the kitchen or 'livening up' the hockey field, Kari was beginning to feel as though she was the only sane one in the dungeon.

"Watch where you're waving that thing!" she yelled, exasperated, as Ken's broomstick went sailing past her head. She had taken up her usual perch on one of the beds, having been exiled from the bathroom the day before for criticizing Yolei's choice of fluffy shower heads.

Ken paused for a moment, opening his mouth to apologise, but TK swept past him and made off with the soap. The reformed Kaiser ducked a dangerous dive from Patamon and managed to hassle TK for a full five minutes before tripping on Armadillomon and giving away a goal.

"This is madness." Kari muttered, vaulting to another bed as the previous one was sent spinning across the room by a racing Gatomon.

"It's not that bad," Davis told her, with a huge yawn. "Why don't you go join the fun?"

"Why don't you get off your lazy backside?"

"Well jeez, I was just asking!" he arranged an almost superior look on his face. "You know, for someone who's supposed to be the 'Child of Light' you've got a lot to learn about lightening up."

This piece of wisdom was rewarded with a withering glare from Kari as she stormed off to talk to Cody - which was an adventure in itself, what with all the kamikaze digimon and boys with brooms.

"So..." she was never really sure how to talk to this kid, "How's the bestseller coming along?"

"This story isn't going to be leaving the dungeon." Cody replied, his eyes never leaving his work.

"Why not?" Kari asked, "I didn't think you'd be the sort to have such deep, dark secrets."

Cody just shrugged and kept chipping away at the wall with his fork. "It probably wouldn't be the best idea if everyone knew Yukio's story."

"You're writing about Oikawa?" Kari took another look at Cody's writing and realised it seemed to be written in some bizarre foreign alphabet.

"It's in digi-code," Cody said, responding to the unasked question, "The script that makes up the Digital World's programming."

"Oh. Okay."

There was a long silence (punctured by the ongoing racket of the hockey match).

"Is it Japanese?"

"It's universal." Cody replied. He gave a small smile at the comical confusion on Kari's face. "Here, come and see. Just read along the lines like you would normally."

Feeling quite silly, Kari followed the flow of the writing with her eyes. It was still as meaningless as before, but she suddenly found thought running through her head, a story of sorts. She gasped as she realised that this was Oikawa's story, the tale of all the pain and loss in his life.

"Cody, I... this is incredible!" Kari exclaimed. "Could anyone read this stuff?"

"Of course," nodded, "no matter what a person's native language is, they can understand it. It's the language spoken in the digital world, too. All digimon speak in digi-code too, so logically anybody can understand them."

"This is wonderful!" the girl cried. "Do you know what this means? It would be a huge leap in communications. Imagine if all the world's books were written in digi-code."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but it wouldn't work." Cody shook his head. "Imagine the hundreds of interpreters that would be put out of work. People would stop learning foreign languages. And I don't think it works in the real world."

"Oh. Bummer."

"Hey, no-one will be any worse off."

"How did you learn how to write it?" Kari asked, still a little stunned.

"Watching. Listening. Taking things in."

"It's so weird. I mean, when I think of the hours Izzy used to spend trying to decode that stuff..." she trailed off, amazed at the youngster's ingenuity.

"Izzy would have been trying to read the characters, not their meaning, right?" Cody raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess so." Kari had never imagined Cody could be so insightful.

"I'm nowhere near Izzy's IQ level," the boy admitted, picking up his fork again, "but I guess I can see things he can't. It's all a matter of perspective, really." He jerked his head towards TK, Ken and the crazed digimon. "These guys may want to do something constructive, but they can't right now. The fact is, Hikari, that this is a battle we may very well lose."

"But that doesn't mean we can all go mad!" she protested.

"Why not?" Cody's voice became suddenly intense. "My dear Kamiya, have you ever stopped to think about what's at stake here? If Mordremon succeeds and something happens to one of us, there'll be no second chances."

"So? What does that have to do with them?"

Kari suddenly found herself forced to fall back on her hands as Cody shoved his face into hers. She realised, distractedly, how shockingly green his eyes were.

"Hikari Kamiya," he whispered, fiercely, "do you have any idea what it's like to lose your digimon?"

"Well... no..." Kari babbled, "but it doesn't matter, does it? They come back."

Cody held the fork up in front of her eyes. "I could gouge your arm with this fork. You know that eventually the would heal, but that wouldn't stop it hurting, would it?"

"N-no."

"And isn't it true that you don't really know what something's like until you've lived through it yourself?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Then there you have it." Cody sat back on his heels and Kari started breathing again. "Digimon don't die forever, but that doesn't change the fact that losing one is incredibly painful."

"How would you know?" Kari asked. "Nothing's ever happened to Armadillomon."

"True, true." Cody agreed. "But you saw how Ken was when Wormmon died, and TK's told me more about it than I could ever be comfortable with."

Kari nodded in agreement, but her eyes widened as she realised what Cody had just said.

"You mean TK... Patamon... Patamon's _died_ before?"

"Yes, didn't you know?" the boy look mildly surprised.

"No, I didn't," said Kari, darkly, getting to her feet. The younger one pulled her back down.

"Don't bring it up. Not with TK. It's... it's very painful." Kari was surprised at the amount of emotion etched on Cody's usually blank face. "But to you understand what this means to them now? TK and Ken know a pain that the rest of us can hardly imagine. They both got their digimon back, but right now they're facing the prospect of losing that insurance."

"I never thought about what would happen if I lost Gatomon." Kari admitted. "To live the rest of my life without her... I just can't imagine it."

"Well, those two fools with broomsticks can," Cody said, "But I'll be damned if I let either of them go through that again."

"Thank you." said Kari, quietly. She stood up and started walking back to the beds. Gatomon wove around her legs, giggling, and once again Kari tried to imagine living without her. She had known about Wormmon's death and resurrection, of course, but she couldn't believe she had never been told of Patamon's. Or that Cody had. Cody, that strange, quiet, but unusually sensitive little guy, was wiser than anyone had ever given credit for.

Davis was right. She needed to take a break.

Hikari cautiously made her way to the bathroom, skirting around Hawkmon, who was chasing Ken. Fortunately Yolei was painting a mural on the inside of the toilet door right then, and didn't notice Kari poking around in the pile of shower curtains she'd taken down that morning. It was a blessing that Phantomon had given her the paints - although it may just be because he was sick of Yolei whinging about the colour co-ordination.

Despite Hawkmon's relentless attack, Ken had managed to break away and take possession of the soap. He was just about to score what he thought would be an easy goal when a pink blot ploughed into him and he suddenly found himself flat on the floor, the battered soap nowhere in sight.

Armed only with the rod from the shower curtain, Kari sped towards the other side of the dungeon with the makeshift puck skidding in front of her. She ducked the heroic dive from Patamon and made a rather magnificent swerve to avoid TK. With Gatomon cheering her on, Kari gave the soap a resounding whack to send it soaring in a beautiful arc to hit Davis right between the eyes.

Not a bad shot, she thought, although that wasn't quite what she was aiming for. Still, maybe now the lazy old Motomiya would have a reason to get out of bed!

******

Though not a noisy or chaotic place, Primary Village was usually alive with small, happy noises as Elecmon went about tending to the baby digimon. Right now, however, there was a different sort of calm: the cold, empty, oppressive silence that defies anyone to disturb its frigid serenity. The bright landscape, normally a cheering sight, seemed forbidding in the absence of life, like a fairground that had long ago been abandoned and left to slowly fall apart.

Fortunately, like most bad things in the digital world, it didn't last for long.

With a rush of joyful squealing, a rabble of baby monsters tumbled out of one of the village's buildings and into the street. Another stream of babies rounded a corner as the digiports returned them from their short-lived sojourn in the human's world. Their home was not in the best of shape - everything gets a little ragged at the edges when there's an impending disaster - but the children rarely noticed such trifling details. They were happy to be back.

When the tide of little digimon had slowed to a trickle and finally tapered off, a stooped figure emerged from behind a tree, chuckling to himself. Hands tucked into his sleeves and folded behind his back, he appeared to just wander aimlessly about the village. A smile and a nod to Elecmon, already back to work; a stern word to Ogremon and Leomon, who looked as though they were about to break out into another fight. The man stopped as he looked past the big digimon at three humans grouped together behind him.

"Hello there," he said, smiling warmly. "My name is Gennai and I've come to give you a hand. Welcome to the digital world."

"Jim Kido," the boy grinned, shaking Gennai's hand. "Well, the name's Shuu, really, but I much prefer Jim. Trouble is, then my brother Shin wanted to be called Jim too, so..."

"Yes, yes, I see your problem," Gennai nodded in agreement. "My counterparts and I once had the exact same problem, but..." his voice trailed off as he noticed the two girls staring t him.

"Oh, this is Jun and Momoe." Jim informed the old man. "They have younger siblings that are digidestined, too, like my little brother Joe, so we've heard all about this place."

"Far too much for comfort, in fact." Jun grumbled.

"Yeah, why are _we_ here?" asked Momoe.

"Who cares?" Jim laughed, almost deliriously. "It's a pleasure to be here, a privilege, even. I've always wanted to -"

"Jim?" Jun said, sweetly.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Yes, yes, quite so." Gennai nodded, patting Jim's shoulder absently. "It's wonderful to meet you all, but you're here for a far more serious purpose, I'm afraid. Please come with me." He gestured to the humans and to Leomon and Ogremon.

Bemused, curious and slightly worried, the three five of them obediently followed Gennai to a grassy, tree-lined field that was filled with eggs. Elecmon dashed back and forth, tending to his tiny charges.

"Tell me, Jim, has Joe ever said anything to you about the way digimon live?" Gennai asked him.

"No, never." Jim shook his head.

"What about you, girls? Do your siblings tell you about the digital world?"

"Yolei doesn't like to talk about it too much." said Momoe.

"I don't think Davis knows much himself," Jun snorted.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'll have to enlighten you, then," Elecmon grinned, waddling up with a Leafmon on his head. "Digimon aren't born the way the flesh-and-blood creatures of your world are. They're created out of information from the computers and TVs and stuff that you guys have."

"So _we_ created digimon?" Jim asked."

"Humans created the digital world itself," Gennai added, "It came into existence when the first computer was built."

"But that was back in the thirties!" Jun exclaimed. Momoe looked at her friend with mild surprise and she blushed slightly. "Hey, Yamato Ishida hasn't taken up _every_ moment in the last six months of my life. I listen in school too!"

"Um.... yeah," Elecmon seemed put off, "But anyway, the digimon -"

"Have there always been digimon here?" Momoe interrupted.

"Later, later." Gennai shook his head. "Anyway, data from computers is interpreted by the digital world itself, which is like a master computer. It's processed and sorted and finally -"

"It becomes one of these." Elecmon held up an egg. "Then I hatch 'em and raise 'em until they're ready to look after themselves."

"There's one other thing." Leomon spoke up. "When a digimon dies its data is still left over. On rare occasions it is stored somewhere and the digimon becomes extinct, but usually it is reassembled and the digimon is reborn here."

"So you guys live forever?" asked Jun.

"I guess so." Ogremon nodded.

"Cool!"

"Maybe." Leomon looked doubtful; he and Ogremon shared a significant Look. "We'll tell you guys more bout that later."

"So... what does all this have to do with us?" Jim wondered aloud.

"We'll, I'd think the three of you would have noticed that your siblings are missing."

"Yeah. We know." Momoe sighed.

"We figured it had something to do with the digital world." added Momoe. "We weren't sure whether we should be worried or not, though."

"Oh, you can worry, alright." Leomon growled, his face curling into an expression of contempt. "There's a powerful digimon holding Davis and Yolei - and their friends - captive."

"It's okay!" Ogremon assured them, seeing the horrified looks on Jun and Momoe's faces. "Joe and his team are working really hard to get there and free everyone."

"And doing very well, too." Gennai nodded. "Joe and Gomamon are doing exceedingly well against Kappamon right now."

Though the enemy digimon's name meant nothing to him, Jim was more comfortable in that knowledge. The girls still weren't satisfied, though.

"Why has this digimon taken my brother?" Jun demanded.

Elecomon heaved an enormous sigh and looked mournfully at Gennai. The wizened man nodded at him and the little striped digimon began to talk once more, looking as though he'd just been banished to Infinity Mountain.

"This enemy has taken the digivices - the things that make their partners evolve - from Davis, Yolei, TK, Kari, Cody and Ken. In only a few days the time will come for her to put that plan into action. If she succeeds, then... there'll never be... I won't..." he lapsed into silence, crumpling into a miserable heap at Jim's feet.

"Then digimon will no longer be reborn when they die." Leomon finished.

Elecmon howled and buried his face in Jim's shirt, his whole body shaking with sobs. The boy patted him awkwardly on the head.

"We don't really know yet what your purpose in this whole business is," Gennai told them, over Elecmon's racket, "But you'll have to discover your mission for yourselves. At any rate, you're not desperately needed right now. You should go home for now and come back on Friday, when we reach the real crisis."

"How are we meant to get back?" Momoe blurted out.

"Look in your pocket." Gennai advised her.

"But there's nothing there, just my... oh!" Momoe had emptied her pockets to demonstrate, but among the house keys and gum wrappers lay an item that she definitely hadn't shoved in there that morning - a perfect miniature bronze-coloured D3.

Jun quickly started going through her pockets, too, pouring out all sorts of junk, photos and movie tickets and about ¥3500 in loose change. She sorted through and found a matching silver digivice there, whilst Jim had a gold one on his belt. All three stared at their new digivices in amazement, hardly believing what the gifts meant. Elecmon stopped moping and looked up in surprise. Leomon and Ogremon jumped to their feet. Gennai just smiled knowingly.

"There's a screen over there you can use." he informed the dumbstruck group. "Just hold the devices our towards the screen and you'll head back home. When you want to come back, do the same with a computer and say 'digiport open'."

"Okay. Got it." Jim nodded and headed towards the port, Jun and Momoe close behind. "Thanks for everything."

"Hang on!" the ancient one protested, looking perplexed. "Aren't you taking your digimon?"

"_Our_ digimon?" Jun repeated, a blank expression on her face.

"Ogremon and Leomon stared at each in amazement and the distraught Elecmon looked as though he was about to faint. Gennai shook his head.

"Of course. All _six_ of you are clearly supposed to be a team. Otherwise you wouldn't have met up and come here together. Now head on home, all of you."

"But... but... the babies..." Elecmon protested, feebly.

"I can look after them for a few days." Gennai assured the little digimon. "You need a break. Get to know Jim, and for goodness' sake try to relax."

"You're on." Jim nodded, picking up Elecmon under one arm. Ogremon went to stand next to Jun and Leomon grudgingly picked up Momoe, reluctant to surrender his independent lifestyle.

"We'll be back on Friday!" Momoe yelled, just before she and her new teammates hurtled through the digiport, back to the real world - a whole adventure in itself.

***

For the second time that day, chaos erupted in the little computer shop at the end of town. From the digiport in the back room, six beings emerged: three humans, Elecmon, and two small digimon they hadn't seen before.

"What the... what happened to me?" the green one cried, his eyes bulging.

"We got smaller, stupid." his fuzzy grey friend told him. "Don't you remember what it's like to be a Rookie?"

"Shut up!" Jun grabbed the ugly green creature and glanced frantically around the room at two dumbstruck workers.

"Don't worry, it's just a... um..." Momoe clutched the grey digimon to her as she fumbled for an explanation.

"It's a routine operation!" Jim yelled. He grabbed Elecmon in one hand and Momoe's hand in the other, barrelling through the crowd that had gathered around the office door, Jun close behind. They staggered through the shop and finally out into the street.

"We'll I guess we'll be busy for the next few days." Jun puffed as they dropped onto a bench not far from the cafe where the adventure had begun.

"Who are the new guys?" Jim asked.

"I'm Goblimon," announced Jun's companion, "But I used to be Ogremon."

"And I was Leomon - but now I'm Gazimon." said the fuzzy grey rabbit-like digimon.

"See, digimon all have different forms. I guess Ogremon and Leomon went back to their rookie stages when we came back to the real world." Elecmon stopped and looked at Jim. "I'll tell you more later. Why don't we all get something to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm starved!" Goblimon cried.

"Excellent idea." agreed Gazimon.

"Do you guys really eat as much as Yolei says?" Momoe asked, alarmed.

"Probably more." said Elecmon, with a grin. "So how about it?"

"We never did finish our lunch... or pay the bill, now that I think about it." said Jim, looking right at Jun.

"Okay, we might as well." Jun sighed, standing up. She smiled as Goblimon scrambled up onto her shoulders.

After a day of surprises, the three newest, but oldest digidestined and their digimon tried to return to what passed for normal in Odaiba. The little monsters caused something of a stir in the cafe, but everyone figured they'd have to get used to that. Despite all the complaints about their unusually long bill, Jun, Jim and Momoe where truly delighted to be able to call themselves Chosen Children, called upon to aid the digital world during the plot that was unfolding in a tower on top of a mountain, a whole world away.

******

"No way," whispered Mordremon, staring out one of the windows. She gripped the stone ledge and clenched her teeth, her whole body trembling with emotion. "Not Kappamon too. This just can't be happening."

Cronomon cautiously sidled up to her friend. Not that she was scared; Mordremon wasn't the sort of master to punish her servants. When she was in one of her moods, though, one could never be sure how she would react to anything.

"Kappamon fought well," the bird said, quietly. "She died with honour."

"Yes, she did." Mordremon sighed. "I just hadn't expected her to go so quickly. I hadn't expected any of them to go at all. Otherwise I would never have sent them off to..."

"I know," Cronomon waddled up onto her mistress' shoulder and nudged her affectionately. "I know you'd never send anyone away to die."

"Do you miss them?" Mordremon asked, suddenly.

The crow sucked in a breath sharply, making an effort not to remind the girl that Tauromon, Serpentmon and Kappamon would someday return. Any mention of the digimon's rebirth tended to upset her.

"I do, a bit." Cronomon admitted. "I never liked any of those digimon the way you did, but we were friends. Besides, I still have you and that fool, Phantomon."

Mordremon managed to smile a little. "Yes, I suppose you do. _We_ do. Not to mention Banemon. Oh, stars, he'll be the next! I hope he, at least, comes out of it alive."

"He's a powerful digimon." the bird assured her.

"So were the first three."

"They couldn't force Mega digimon back to Rookies, could they?"

"True, true." Mordremon agreed, turning to head down the stairs with the crow still perched on her shoulder.

"Mordred?" piped Cronomon.

The mistress rolled her eyes at the new nickname, but let it go. "Yeah?"

"Why do you need to send the four out to fight?"

"Those six older children must be delayed or my plot will become impossible. Our friends should be able to delay them for just the right amount of time," she stopped short, as if trying to cut out of the conversation right then and there.

"But ours have been killed this way!" Cronomon protested. "Couldn't you have the digidestined destroyed instead? It's what any other villain would do..."

"Well, I'm not any other villain." Mordremon whispered, in her I-love-you-dearly-but-you-shouldn't-have-said-that tone of voice.

She would have gone on, but there was a bark from Banemon down at the bottom of the stairs. His mistress bolted down the staircase, leaving Cronomon flapping crazily in her wake. They found the three headed digimon standing by the front door, every inch of his blue-grey fur just itching to go. The head on the left, in charge of tracking, was alert, its tongue lolling out. The centre head, the fighter, was sleeping and on the right the intellectual head turned towards Mordremon and began talking.

"I believe, mistress, that it is time for me to fulfil my duties," he began, stiffly. He was always very formal with Mordremon; she had long ago given up trying to stop him.

"You have no duty to me at all, Bane." the girl replied.

"After you took me in, as you did all of us? I owe my life to you." Banemon shook his two conscious heads, which looked rather strange if you weren't used to it.

"I would never force you to repay a debt," Mordremon argued, "and even so, you have paid with your friendship ten times over already."

"You flatter me," the dog grumbled, "but I must fight these humans and their digimon. After all," he cocked his right head to the side, "don't you want me to help you anyway?"

Mordremon ducked her head, ashamed. Banemon just twitched his whiskers; the head on the left sniffled a bit.

"When you firs come up with this plan, we all agreed to help," he reminded her. "Nothing has changed that."

"I didn't know back then," she muttered, "I'd never ask you to do it now, after what happened to the others."

"You don't have to," Banemon said, gently, "I would go anyway. Maybe I will be killed, like my companions, but I will not fail you."

"Thank you." Mordremon whispered. She dashed forward and hugged each of Bane's three heads, waking the vicious one. But even it just licked her ear and grumbled.

"Cronomon fluttered around a corner and helped Banemon to drag open the door. All six eyes blinked in the bright sunlight. the head on the left sniffed at the air, weaving back and forth in search of a scent. It stopped suddenly, the fur on the digimon's shoulders pricking up. A new expression spread over the three faces, the wild instincts that run deep in all canines: the urge to hunt and to kill. The beast snarled for a moment before leaping out of the castle and out of sight.

"Goodbye, Bane!" said Cronomon.

"And good luck!" Mordremon added.

They waited for a moment before closing he door. Cronomon settled back down onto Mordremon's shoulder, ready to resume her inquisition. But this time it was the mistress who asked the first question.

"Do you think Banemon will kill the humans if he gets the chance?"

Cronomon blinked in surprise. "Probably. He is a wolf, after all."

The girl sighed and plodded back to the stairs. "I didn't want to kill any of them."

"But I thought -"

"I already told you, I'm not like the digimon villains of old." she snapped. "And not just because of my species. I... I mean... it's bad enough, what I'm doing. I wouldn't want anything to happen to the digidestined until this place goes into motion. I don't even want anything to happen to them then." Her voice dropped as she flopped down on one of the steps. "I don't want anyone to have to live the way I do."

"So that's why you're putting them off? So _they _don't' have to suffer?!"

"Yeah. That's about the size of it."

Mordremon waited with dread for the question that was sure to come next, the question of shy she didn't just send them away. The one she couldn't answer.

But it never came. The feathers around Cronomon's beak crinkled into a wry smile and she shook her head in disbelief.

"You are one in a million, Darcy." she grinned.

"Don't call me that!" the girl snapped, automatically. "But ain't that the truth."

The dark bird hopped her friend's lap and nestled down, suddenly sleepy. Mordremon stroked the glossy black feathers and smiled sadly to herself. She knew that this whole plan was selfish and she should have told everyone her real intentions. But after living with these digimon for so long, she didn't have the heart to tell them, not even Cronomon. Especially Cronomon. She didn't know if she'd be able to go through with it while her feathered friend was still around.

_Perhaps that's why I've let the digidestined come. They won't hesitate to do the job, even if I can't bear to do it myself._

******

Veemon and Wormmon huddled together behind the crate as light from the kitchen washed over them. They cringed as Phantomon made an alarmed noise when he discovered the mess they had left behind in their hasty retreat. He floated forward and began turning over all the things on the shelf with the breadcrumbs, muttering about rats.

A tiny squeak escaped from Wormmon as the edge of Phantomon's cape floated past their escape route. He was clearly working his way through the whole pantry, intent on seeking out and punishing the filthy vermon that had invaded his kitchen. A chain that dangled from his shoulders clunked against the crate, making both digimon jump. They'd have to get him out of there somehow.

Shooting a warning look at Veemon to silence him, Wormmon cautiously peeped over the rim of the crate and snagged a few raisins, stuffing them into his mouth. He handed a few to Veemon and scurried back down as quietly as he could. Not that the noise level really mattered - Phantomon was so busy overturning soup cans that he was deaf to any sound but that of invading rats. Well then, perhaps that sound could be used to sway him from his search.

Wormmon crept around to the side of the crate, his body pressed against the ground. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the door, waiting for the right moment. When and opening appeared, Wormmon quickly popped a raisin in his mouth and spat it right at the doorway, deliberately brushing Phantomon's cloak.

The edgy cook felt the slight movement and stopped what he was doing immediately.

Veemon caught on and handed him another raisin, which he disposed of speedily. The next few fruits were sent on their way even faster, right past Phantomon into the huge cracks in the kitchen floor. They made the tiniest of scratching noises as the landed among the stones. Phantomon turned for a moment to look outside and Veemon made a dash for the tunnel.

But he had moved too soon and too carelessly. His tail thumped loudly against the crate that had sheltered him and Phantomon whipped his head around and caught sight of the reason he'd been going through supplies so fast lately.

Basically, Veemon was stuffed.

~~~~~~

Is your hunger satisfied now? Your curiosity awakened? I can't promise when the next chapter will be here, but I'll try to make it soon. Please, just don't forget about me.


	18. Separation Anxiety

Dislcaimer: It ain't mine. Don't sue me or anything.

I'm back. The gang is back. TBDM is back. Hopefully, you are back too.

**Chapter 18 - Separation Anxiety**

It was getting late when the ranks of digidestined finally embarked on what would hopefully be the last stage of their journey. After the defeat of Kappamon there were many stories to tell; indeed it seemed like they had been fighting the accursed monster for much longer than one day. Plesiomon had headed straight for the mountain side of the lake to deposit his passengers and immediately dropped all the way back to Bukamon, exhausted. Birdramon and her cargo quickly joined the gang, and there was plenty of discussion as well as a very late lunch - some cold food from the Gekomon warmed over the fire.

Taichi felt a flicker of annoyance as she munched on a half-cooked sausage. The clock was ticking. Two days, and then they'd be in trouble. And nobody had any idea how long it would take to climb this mountain, although Izzy had assured everyone it wouldn't take too long. After all, Birdramon could just carry them all to the top.

There was still Banemon to be reckoned with, though.

But on the other hand, everyone was exhausted. Okay, he and Sora weren't, but he was an athlete and she hadn't been underwater or anything. Yamato and Mimi hadn't either, but then Yamato had been going through all that stuff with Gabumon's amnesia, and Mimi... well, she just wasn't a camper.

"So, do you think it'd be okay if we stayed here for the night?" Yamato asked the circle of faces around the fire. "I'm stuffed and I reckon a lot of you are too, right?"

"I can just fly you all up tomorrow morning." offered Biyomon. "Won't take any time at all. We can all rest up until then."

"What about Banemon?" Taichi asked, quietly. "We can't write him out of the equation."

"There'll be a way," said Koushiro. "Every digimon has a weakness, surely. And the Digital World has never given us anything we couldn't handle before. I doubt that Banemon will be any different."

"The main problem with him will be that Wolfbane thing." Agumon reminded them. "No matter what level we digivolve to, he'll be able to send us right back to Rookies, or maybe even further."

"That was nasty," Gabumon shuddered at the memory.

"We'll try not to let it happen again." Yamato assured him.

"Yeah, this Ishida is cranky enough already," Sora teased. She still hadn't forgotten the tongue-lashing he'd given her a few days ago.

The conversation proceeded slowly, as did the daylight hours. No-one really knew how a power such as Banemon's could be counteracted upon. He could eliminate the digimon's fighting abilities without even touching them. Jyou suggested that their monsters could try just fighting in their rookie forms, but was quickly reminded of what had happened when they tried that against Kuwagamon the very first time they entered the Digiworld. Koushiro and his computer discovered that the Wolfbane attack reprogrammed a digimon (sending it to a lower stage) by using red light, but none of the destined digimon seemed to have anything that would counteract it.

The conversation drifted, though, from digimon attacks to old adventures, to the Dark Seed kids, to what was going on back home, to the Teenage Wolves' declining popularity, to American music, to Mimi's move, to family holidays, to air travel, to motion sickness, to Joe's allergies, to Hikari's pneumonia episode, to hospital food. All the time the sun dropped lower and lower in the sky. By the time the group had gotten around to dinner it was almost time for bed. From where Sora was seated on the eastern side of the circle, her shadow stretched from the tiny campsite to the edge of a scrubby group of bushes several metres away, where a very quiet audience was waiting patiently.

******

Banemon's plan had been reasonably simple - ambush the digidestined, try to split them up, cause as much havoc as he could. There was no trouble making up his mind, for although he had three heads they shared the one mind, functioning as parts of a whole. He'd made his way right down to the foot of the mountain pretty quickly, concealing himself in the sparse scrub, just as Plesiomon waddled up the shore and de-digivolved. The idea was that as soon as all six had met up, he'd spring right into the middle of them, scattering the group and, if he was lucky, separating some of the humans from their digimon. But all these plans came down around his ears when the head on his left - the almost childish tracker, with his heightened senses - picked up the disturbance that Birdramon created in the air.

The wolf had always hated birds, ever since he had hatched. Though he was, to his knowledge, the only member of his species, all the digimon that were most like him had feared water over all things. His fears, on the other hand, were of death in the skies.

It was part of the reason for his gruff relationship with Cronomon, that he feared her airborne power. The Hawkmon down in the dungeons didn't worry him so much, but he still shuddered silently when he had first seen the creature. 

Yet it was nothing compared to what he felt when he saw Birdramon flying in to land so close. The fur on his back rose slightly and he bared all three sets of teeth. Even when she went back to being Biyomon he only relaxed a few hairs. There was an overwhelming sense of dread as he watched that giggling pink bird, as if some unseen hand was dragging him forward by the scruff of his necks whilst the pathway of his life was closing up behind him, so that he could never turn back. It was useless to struggle against his fate now, whatever it may be, because he was locked into a fight that may be his last, just like it was for the other three.

Under the fear, though, there also rose a grim determination. His back wasn't against the wall yet, and if this was to be his last fight then he was going to go out with a bang. The plan had changed, though. Banemon would worry about scattering the digidestined later. First he had to take care of that bird.

So even as the smell of sausages tickled his three noses, he settled down to wait.

******

Packs were opened, a tarp spread out, sleeping bags unrolled. The Gekomon were nauseating in their worship of Mimi, but they knew how to prepare for the worst. The group had more than enough to last them until they reached the castle. As Sora retreated and settled down to sleep, Yamato turned his back to the fire, ready for his shift on lookout. He hadn't been too keen, but Gabumon insisted that something was going to happen. Yamato disagreed, although he usually trusted his digimon. He was grumpy with weariness, though, and didn't feel much like sitting out in the cold and dark for a few hours.

Sora, on the other hand, had eagerly taken first watch and although nothing had happened she was still uneasy. She'd felt strange all day, an air of foreboding hanging about. It had seemed like a good idea to take the first watch, since she doubted she'd be able to sleep anyway, and she had deliberately stayed on watch for several hours longer than she should have. It was past midnight when Gabumon finally realised what she was doing and insisted that he and Yamato take a turn. And yet, she couldn't sleep.

The fire crackled merrily as Gabumon added a bit more fuel to it. He flopped down casually, yawning for effect. He felt at home in the mountains, but he was also wary. He had almost total faith in his ability to beat down Banemon if need be, but in frustrated him that the menace was there at all. Being among the gigantic stone peaks was deeply comforting and he felt as though he knew it, as though nothing could surprise him. It was just frustrating that this happiness was to be so short-lived and that it could be disrupted by Banemon at any moment.

While Yamato felt weary, Sora was wide awake. Gabumon noted every detail of what was around him, daring anything to intrude on the campsite. Banemon waited in the bushes, every muscle tensed, ready to spring when the right moment came.

Biyomon slept, nestled near Sora, unaware of what was about to befall her.

A breeze rustled the leaves on the scraggly trees to the west of the camp, and Gabumon wrenched his relentless guard away from Banemon's scrub for just a moment. Sora barely had time to yell when her eyes flicked towards Biyomon and saw the three-headed monster leap forward, a pair of jaws closing firmly around the little bird.

Biyomon did plenty of yelling, though.

"What are you... help! Sora, help mee!"

The camp immediately came alive, bleary-eyed children and digimon scrambling about as Banemon skittered through their ranks. Sora, who had slept in her clothes, was out of her sleeping bag and heading after the wolf in a flash, not even pausing to put her shoes on. She ran straight for what seemed to be a rough mountain path, following the sound of Biyomon's voice. Branches slapped her face as she struggled ahead, her feet scratched and soiled within moments. The sounds of the chaotic campsite scene seemed to be straightening out, organising themselves.

The girl tripped suddenly and skewed to the side, almost slipping off the edge of the track that mightn't even have existed. In a flash she was aware of how stupid this idea was, how hopeless things were. Biyomon's voice was getting further and further away and somehow Sora lost all heart when the voice stopped abruptly. Lying in the dirt, in the dark, she almost considered rolling right over the side and down to her death when there was a snort from from Garurumon right beside her.

"Need a hand?" a voice asked her, sounding almost amused.

Sora could dimly see Yamato straddled atop the blue digimon. She clumsily pulled herself to her feet and grabbed at Garurumon's fur. Matt reached down to grab her and hauled her upwards, barely stopping to let her get comfortable before he slapped the blue wolf and they got moving again. He shoved a pair of shoes at her, muttering something about how she'd forgotten them. Sora mumbled something too.

It wasn't un unpleasant ride, exactly. Garurumon moved quickly and quietly, although Sora had no way of knowing how close they were to Banemon. There was a strange sort of joy about the ride, really. Night wasn't all dark, but the colours were subtle, subdued. It seemed quiet, too, despite the fading sounds of chaos behind them and the occasional, very faint outbursts from Biyomon that they could hear when the wind went the right way. Beneath every little sound there lay a silence that defied it all, as though it knew that eventually any sound, just like any life, would die out.

At the same time, though, it was a hard ride. Yamato was perched right behind Garurumon's head, shielded from wind and stuff, gripping onto the long fur around his ears. Sora, on the other hand, was up near the wolf's shoulders, between two weird... things... that just stuck out there. She was unsteady; it was rough terrain, so there were jumps and stumbles, and she could _feel_ Garurumon's forelegs working away beneath her.

Of course, she could always sit forward, closer to Yamato. She could hang onto him when the big leaps came. It wouldn't feel so much falling. She felt suddenly shy, though. No, she couldn't move up there, touching him. Even though it might be nice...

But as it turned out, she didn't have much of a choice.

With a sudden turn, Garurumon leapt straight up a rock wall, catching a brief glimpse of Banemon at the top of it. Though Yamato had a good grip on the digimon's longer fur, Sora was thrown backwards, clinging desperately to what fur she could reach, threatening to fall at any moment as Garurumon strained to pull himself upwards. Cursing to himself, Yamato swivelled around and grabbed Sora's wrist roughly in one hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" he muttered, angrily, pulling her towards him so fast that she choked in pain. "Don't be stupid. You'll be no use to Biyomon if you get yourself killed."

Garurumon righted himself and moved off again, but Yamato held Sora's arm for moment longer, forcing her to sit right behind him, guiding her hands to him. Reluctant and somehow eager, she gingerly wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled as she leaned towards him, relaxing suddenly in this little comfort. It wouldn't last long; Garurumon's fortuitous shortcut had drawn them even closer to Banemon and it couldn't be much longer before they overtook. But for a few precious moments she was there with Yamato, her arms around him, her head brushing his shoulder as she leaned forwards. Even in the darkness, Sora could see the tiniest of smiles on his face, too.

******

As soon as he heard Biyomon's cry for help, Taichi was scrambling out of his sleeping bag. For someone who could take three hours to get out of bed in the morning, he was surprisingly fast when there was danger about. As quick as his reflexes were, though, his mind was still going to take a while to wake up.

It was too dark to see anything clearly enough to be helpful. Banemon had already made his escape by the time Tai got to his feet and he only caught a brief glimpse of Sora as she rushed off into the blackness. Instinctively he tried to grab her and find out what was going on, but accidentally kicked Agumon and then fell on top of Koushiro. Izzy was only halfway out of his sleeping bag and yelped in surprise, shoving a hand in Tai's face. The leader tried to scuffle backwards but just got even more tangled. Distantly Tai heard Gabumon digivolving and saw Matt jumping on Garurumon's back.

"I'm going after Sora! Get yourselves organised!" were his parting words.

Mimi was the only one who heard them, though. After all the yelling Mr. Izumi had been doing, a groggy Tentomon thought that his human friend was being attacked and started hurling Electro Shockers at Taichi. Joe made a courageous leap over the smouldering campfire (which Agumon was trying to stir up again) and grabbed Tentomon in a magnificent tackle, bringing him to the ground where he began to thrash about. Bukamon immediately digivolved to Gomamon and leaped into the fray.

The fire flared up, thanks to Agumon, just as Palmon used her Poison Ivy to grab Jyou, Tentomon and Gomamon. Mimi couldn't help smiling a little when she saw Jyou suspended upside down and Tentomon's face when he realised who he'd been attacking. Not to mention the tangle that Taichi and Koushiro were in...

The brown-haired boy coughed and blushed slightly as he got to his feet, his hair even messier than usual, if that was possible. "Well, I suppose... er, getting up in the middle of the night is... well, it's not the best..."

"Put me down!" Gomamon demanded, glaring at Palmon.

"Yes, yes, let's get ourselves organised," Taichi blabbered, as Palmon released her indignant captives. "So, did anyone see what happened?"

"Biyomon's gone." said Koushiro. "Sora went after her, and then Matt and Garurumon went after the both of them."

"Maybe she just wanted to do a bit of flying," Tentomon suggested.

"No way! Not in the middle of the night." Gomamon said. "She hates flying when it's dark. She says it's too hard to see anything. I think Biyomon's a bit scared of the dark, actually."

"And how would you know?" Palmon gave him a suspicious look and the furry digimon sniffed and turned his head, partly from embarrassment and partly because he was still annoyed after having been hung up in the air.

"At any rate, I doubt she'd be screaming for help if she just wanted to stretch her wings." Mimi said, raising an eyebrow. "Something took her away. Sora immediately starts chasing, then Matt and Garurumon go too. I suppose they'll have caught up with her by now; you can't get far on foot."

"I suppose we should follow too, shouldn't we, Taichi?" Agumon asked.

There was a long pause as Taichi stared into the fire, thinking the situation over. Garurumon was the fastest of the digimon so there probably wasn't much point in them trying to follow. On the other hand, all of their Mega digimon, with the exception of Plesiomon, could fly, so that could turn out to be a faster option. If it was Banemon, though, which was more than likely, sheer firepower wouldn't be much use. Then again, why on earth would he just run up and grab Biyomon?

"You know," their leader said, slowly, "I could really use a coffee right now. Did anyone bring the -"

He trailed off as a howl rent the air in beautiful three-part harmony. Banemon was somewhere above them on the mountainside. If he was the one who had taken Biyomon, he must have dropped her at some point to raise all three muzzles in song. The eight stood by the fire and scoured the blackness above them, trying to find the source of the sound. It was Gomamon who brought them all around when he realised what the howl was for.

"Everybody, duck!" he yelped, pressing himself flat to the ground.

The children knew not to ask questions at a time like this and immediately did the same. No sooner had they dropped their heads when there was a huge rushing sound and an enormous draft of air swept over the camp from down the mountain, stretching the flame from the fire back towards the water. Everyone instinctively turned their heads and saw two serpentine digimon shooting over the lake and slowly wheeling around to come back.

"Megadramon and Gigadramon." Koushiro muttered to his leader. "They're flying dragon snake sort of things."

"Well that's a great help!" Taichi said, "How do we beat 'em?"

Gigadramon turned his blunt head at the sound of Taichi's voice and launched himself towards the sound. The boy froze as he saw the fierce creature looming in his vision, growing closer at an alarming rate despite the distance it had to cover after overshooting the camp by so much. He watching in horrified fascination as the jaws opened and barely noticed the words 'Giga Byte Wing' before the blue flame leaped from the depths of his throat. But he only had a split second to enjoy the view before Greymon stood up and took the blast full in the chest.

With some quick digivolutions, the other three digimon were in the thick of the battle. Greymon stumbled back a little when he copped Gigadramon's attack and nearly crushed Taichi and Koushiro when the Ultimate ploughed into him. Togemon was there immediately, jumping on the serpent's back and wrenching on his wings while Greymon got up and locked hands with the grounded monster.

Kabuterimon and Ikkakumon were trying to pull off a team effort against Megadramon, with Kabuterimon attacking from the air and Ikkakumon from the ground. Unfortunately Ikkakumon was a sitting duck on the ground and despite Kabuterimon's electric attacks, the serpent was unloading plenty of his Dark Side Attacks on him.

Jyou stood by his digimon's side, tightening his fingers around the thick fur as another attack hit home. The boy saw an opening as Kabuterimon clamped his arms around Megadramon's neck, distracting him for a moment. He pulled himself up Ikkakumon's side to yell in the exhausted digimon's ear.

"Ikkakumon, you have to digivolve!" he said, urgently. "You can't sit here and take much more of it."

"I just don't think I can, Jyou," the monster replied, panting. "I'm still tired out after fighting Kappamon yesterday. I'm surprised I could get this far."

The human cursed under his breath before another Dark Side Attack only just missed its mark. He looked around for help and saw Mimi yelling encouragement to Togemon, who was still seated on Gigadramon's back.

"Hey, Mimi!" he cried. "Give us a hand, will you? Get Togemon to digivolve and take a bit of heat of Kabuterimon."

"But Greymon's -"

"Don't worry!" Taichi cut in. "Greymon'll go Ultimate too, won't you?"

Greymon demonstrated immediately and started to wrestle anew in his guise as MetalGreymon. With only a moment's hesitation Lillymon followed suit, striking Megadramon a hefty blow and sending his latest attack way off target to hit Gigadramon's tail.

Unfortunately, this distracted Gigadramon, with disastrous effects. Shocked by the sudden pain in his tail, he launched himself away from MetalGreymon and into the air. His tail was thrashing out of control and just happened to sweep Taichi off his feet as the monster rose higher and higher into the air. Taichi could do nothing more than hold on as the maddened creature writhed about.

Ikkakumon still had worse things to come, too; the last insult came just as Jyou slid down to the ground so that he could de-digivolve.

Enraged at being caught off-guard by Lillymon, Megadramon suddenly doubled back in an arc over the lake and came down near the surface, zooming towards the shore. He tackled Ikkakumon full on, just as Jyou had done to Tentomon only minutes ago, and smashed the furry giant against a cliff with a nauseating crunching sound. Ikkakumon let out one last pain-filled bellow before he shrunk back to Gomamon and instinctively latched onto the nearest thing - Megadramon

Tinges of grey were now appearing in the dark sky. The sun was returning at last, to a group of digidestined that were far worse off that they had been when it left them the evening before. Megadramon and Gigadramon flew away up the mountain and disappeared into some hidden crevice, unaware as yet that they carried with them two very mismatched passengers.

******

Even as the two flying digimon headed for the darkness of their cave, Sora, Yamato and Garurumon were blessing the coming of day as they finally caught up with Banemon on a narrow path. Sora gasped at the sight of Biyomon's limp form hanging from the middle set of his jaws. She was so transfixed by the unconscious bird that she didn't notice Yamato tugging at her sleeve.

"Sora, we have to get down. Garurumon's going to fight him."

"But... but I... what?" the hours without sleep had started to catch up with Sora when she was riding and she blinked at her friend in confusion.

"Get off!" he grabbed her roughly around the waist and dragged her off Garurumon's back just as the wolf surged forward.

The girl wearily struggled to her feet and tried to make sense of what was going on. The sun was peeping tentatively over the horizon so she could see better, but she wasn't thinking too clearly. From a distant part of her mind she noticed that she was on the ground, in the dirt, with Yamato; Garurumon was running at Banemon; Biyomon was squealing...

What?

She snapped to attention again and looked up at the digimon. Garurumon had stopped in front of Banemon, who was wearing a smug smile on one of his faces. The jaws holding Biyomon in them had squeezed just a little tighter as Garurumon approached and she had gasped and stirred a little as the pain increased. Without thinking, Sora started to get up and move towards her digimon, but Yamato grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. A flicker of annoyance shot through the back of Sora's mind, but she pushed it back and tried to focus her sleep-deprived thoughts on the scene at hand.

"Put the bird down," Garurumon told Banemon, who had backed up to where the path grew too narrow for him to pass through.

"You can't make me," the head on the right growled. "Come any closer and I'll finish her off."

"No you won't."

"How would you know?"

"If you were going to kill her, you would have done it already." said Garurumon. "You've kept her alive, though, so you must need her for something. What is it, I wonder?"

"She's a danger to me," Banemon replied. "I don't know how or why, but she is."

"Then why didn't you kill her?"

"I was going to, but..."

"But what?"

"I figured that it would be better to have her with me than against me. That I might be able to use her." the right head went on. "If she wouldn't fight for me, I could use her to protect me. I know what you saps are like; you won't attack me if one of your own is in my jaws."

"And you chose her because she was a danger to you?" The faintest trace of a smile was playing across Garurumon's muzzle.

"Yes."

The striped wolf laughed derisively. "Yeah, right. You're just afraid. You can make up excuses about why you're not killing her, but in the end you don't know yourself. Or maybe your master has told you not to. Your words sound clever and strategic, but you're nothing of the sort."

"You're pretty smart, then, aren't you?" Banemon sneered. "Are you sure you know what _you_ mean?"

"I can use my head," Garurumon agreed, "but in the end I'm a wild beast, a slave to my instincts. Just like you."

With that, Garurumon hurled himself at Banemon and locked his jaws around the throat of the head that held Biyomon captive in its jaws. It yelped and dropped its prey as the other two heads snapped at the attacker's neck and shoulders. Beneath their feet, Biyomon was slowly crawling away.

Sora struggled away from Yamato towards the two beasts; he was too slow to stop her this time. She was determined to save that helpless little ball of feathers from the monsters' battle. Banemon seemed to have gained the upper hand, the extra teeth giving him something of an advantage, especially after he managed to wrench free the middle head, the most vicious one.

Biyomon was almost out of danger and in Sora's arms again when Garurumon was sent a hefty blow and went flying towards them. Yamato held out his digivice, yelling at Garurumon to digivolve, but Banemon was too fast for him. Before Garurumon's head could hit the ground the six eyes were glowing again and the ominous howl of 'Wolfbane' filled everyone's ears.

The three-headed one reeled with shock for a moment when he realised what he had done. He had fought tooth to tooth, claw to claw - something that had nothing to do with his plans. He hadn't thought at all while he was fighting, really, just reacted. Bowed to his instincts.

Like Garurumon said.

Once again he had a sense of some unimaginable force swallowing up the path behind him. He didn't have to be dragged along it; running was the only way to keep from being swallowed up himself. But he knew. Oh, he knew. He was doomed. He was watching his last sunrise. He was made in the image of Cerberus, guard-dog at the gates of Hell, but soon he would be running through those gates himself. And he knew, with strange clarity, that when he was forced through those gates it was because he succumbed to instinct.

With a shudder of revulsion for what lay ahead, the three-headed one plunged away from the humans and from the accursed bird and out into his wild, mountain home.

~~~~~~

Look! I finished it, I did! And don't tell me, I'm leaning into Sorato too much, right? Well... um... that's just what happened, okay? OKAY?! Just don't come flaming me for it.


	19. The Call of the Wild

Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. It.

It took a while, but it's here. Please read the rewrite of chapter 18, if not the rewrite of the rest of the fic, before reading this one. It's mostly just name changes, but there are a few more major changes in the more recent chapters, so that the eventual end of the fic will make more sense...

**Chapter 19 - Call of the Wild  
**_A tribute to Jack London_

A strange discomfort lay between Yamato and Sora in the early hours of the morning. Though had become very close since they first met - they were closer with each other than with anyone else, except, perhaps, for Taichi - they had never spent much time _alone_ together. What private conversations they had were always on the phone or on the way home from school, and any serious talking they did was always with Taichi present. In a way, their relationship seemed to exist simply because they both had relationships with Tai. They were friends, certainly, very good friends, but their friendship had never been something that either had thought about much.

"So what do we do now?" Sora sat with her back against a rock face, cradling the sleepy Biyomon.

"I don't know." said Yamato, sitting down beside her. "We should go back down and find the others, but we could lose another day doing that, and there's only, what, twenty-four hours left. Seeing as we're a fair way up already, maybe we should just keep going. It's better to have two of us at the castle in time than all six of us being late."

"Would MetalGarurumon be enough, though?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Gabumon shrugged. "But if I can't fight Mordremon alone, I can at least hold her off until the others catch up. Want me to digivolve and carry you up, Yamato?"

"Nah, I think we're better off walking." the blonde shook his head, standing up. "You should save your strength for the battle at the top." He turned to help Sora up and looked pointedly at Biyomon. "Can you wake her up?"

The girl shook her head. "She's a wreck. I think we'd best let her sleep for a while."

"We'll take it in turns to carry her, then. Unless you don't trust me with her?" he raised an eyebrow, a mischievous little smile on his face. "I know how protective you get."

"Hey, just 'cause I wouldn't let you help when I was baking a few weeks back..."

"I'm a cook! I make edible meals of the stuff in my fridge, and that is no mean feat."

"Yeah, but after you managed to mangle the rice balls we were making to raise money for your band, I wasn't going to trust you with scones."

"I thought the Child of Love would know how to forgive and forget."

"Yamato, you ruined rice cakes. _Rice._ You're as _Japanese_, for goodness' sake, and you wrecked a simple bowl of rice!"

The two friends continued their gentle teasing as they made their way up the mountain, their earlier discomfort forgotten. And yet, although it may have been broken up with the laughter, that tension could easily piece itself back together. Yamato and Sora had never before had to face the fact that they were more than just two people with a mutual big-haired, soccer-playing friend - they had a relationship with each other, too. They had never had a chance to examine it, though, and now that they had one, their minds shrank from it without even knowing why.

******

"Jyou?"

The bespectacled boy looked up at the concern in Mimi's voice. For what must have been nearly an hour he had sat on the rough sand at the edge of the lake, his head in his hands. As hard as he tried to think of something to do, his thoughts just went on chasing each other, overflowing with energy but with nowhere to go.

"Jyou, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine." he mumbled, avoiding her eyes.

"No, you're not okay." Mimi answered her own question, sliding an arm around his shoulders and dropping to the ground next to him. "You _can_ talk to me, you know."

"There's no time," he said, through gritted teeth. "There's no _time_, Mimi. Less than a day to go and Taichi's trapped, Sora and Yamato are missing, I've lost Gomamon..."

"Things are only going to get worse if you keep feeling panicked." Koushiro advised him.

"I'm not panicking!" Jyou cried, startling everyone. He got to his feet. "I just... I mean... I don't know what to do. What are we supposed to do?" He looked pleadingly at his friends. "None of us are leaders or decision-makers. We're running out of time and we're in the worst position we've been in for a long time, what with people being separated from their digimon as well as each other, so I don't... I can't... what do we do?"

"We'll manage," Palmon assured him. "Just calm down and think things through. There's me and Tentomon still here, so we at least have two mega digimon on our hands. Two _flying_ mega digimon, no less. So we can reach the top of the mountain as quickly as we want to. The question is what we want to do first."

Jyou was about to nod, but noticed everyone looking at him expectantly.

"I'm not a leader." he said, quietly. "I'm not meant to be the one with the power."

"You shouldn't be afraid of mucking things up, Jyou." Agumon said. "It just shows that you care, and that means you'll do the job twice as well as you would otherwise."

"It's not that." the boy sighed, looking down at his shoes. "It's just... I'm afraid of what I'll do with power if I have it. I'm afraid of being corrupted by it. You should trust me with that sort of responsibility. I'm..." he blushed briefly. "I was even afraid of Plesiomon yesterday. I thought that if I could convince him to abuse that power, I probably would..."

"We're here, too, you know." Koushiro clapped a hand to his shoulder. "You won't do everything on your own. I won't let you use your powers for evil, trust me on that one. It's just that... well... I'm a brain, but that doesn't mean I know what decisions we should make. And Mimi..."

He broke off, unsure of how to say what he meant without insulting the pink-haired girl, but he shouldn't have worried. She laughed at the expression on his face and said it all for him.

"I just want a chance to go home and wash my hair. I've got no idea about priorities. I mean, really, my top priority right now is a new outfit and a chance to cut my nails. You think I can decide what we should do?"

Jyou turned helplessly to Agumon, Palmon and Tentomon, but he knew it wasn't going to be any use.

"You're the brains, we're the brawn." Tentomon said. "That's the way this Digidestined gig works."

With a huge sigh, Jyou straightened his back and turned to Koushiro. "Okay, so we've got Taichi and Gomamon in one place, everyone else in another. Yamato and Sora can probably take care of themselves for the time being as they both have their digimon, but Taichi and I don't. So the first thing to do would be to correct that so that we're back at optimum fighting strength."

"They're being held in a cave about a hundred metres up." the red head had his laptop out already. "There's no obvious entrance and they seem to be quite deep in. I'm guessing the entrance is probably hidden. It could take us quite a while to find."

"Well, I guess we'd better get started then," Jyou said, lightly. "We'll split up to search the hillside. Koushiro and Mimi, you take your digimon, and Agumon, you can come with me."

"Why not just split up completely?" Mimi asked. "We'd cover more ground with six parties than we will with three."

Jyou shook his head. "True, but it won't work. Firstly, we'll need to meet up again every hour or so, and the digimon aren't wearing watches. Secondly, if we find anything we'll need to be able to signal to the others, and we don't have flares or anything, so the digimon are the only ones who can attract attention like that. And lastly, if Megadramon, Gigadramon or even Banemon shows up, we won't be able to fight."

As he finished speaking, the bespectacled boy realised that the rest of the group were all watching him and he blushed deeply. "Erm... meet back here in an hour?" he offered, sheepishly.

The others all agreed and they split up; Koushiro and Tentomon in the direction that Taichi and Gomamon had been taken, Mimi and Palmon the way that Yamato and Sora had last been seen. Jyou looked through the trees, straight up the mountain, the way that they had all come on that first day, a whole fortnight ago.

"Know what, Jyou?" Agumon asked.

"No. What?"

"I think you can be just as good a leader as Taichi if you put your heart into it."

"I don't think so." the boy mumbled. "I'd look terrible in goggles."

Agumon laughed out loud at that, and Jyou couldn't help but smile at his own unintentional joke.

"But you know it's not just about the goggles, right?" said Agumon, once he had calmed down and they started tackling the first steep rise. "You've got the brains, the sense and the... the..." he broke off, struggling to find the right word.

"Morality?" Jyou suggested.

"No, you just know what's right and wrong." said the dinosaur earnestly. "You care what happens to people and stuff. You've got everything that Taichi does. The only difference is that you don't throw yourself into it the way he does. You won't accept the fact that you can lead, and so you don't even try."

Jyou paused to pull Agumon up a particularly steep rise. "We'll see how good a leader I am, Agumon. We'll just see."

******

"Is it lunch time yet?"

Yamato was so startled when the pink bundle in his arms spoke that he nearly dropped her. Not that it would have mattered; Sora wrenched her digimon from his unresisting hands as soon as the words left her beak.

"Biyomon! How do you feel? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay, but could you stop squishing me, please?"

"Oh, of course, of course!" The flustered red-head held the bird out at arm's length and regarded her with a slightly silly grin. "I'm just glad you're awake. Sorry."

"No, don't be sorryyy..." Biyomon's words trailed off as her beak stretched into a yawn entirely against her will. "I'm still a bit sleepy... hey, do you think we could have something to eat?"

"Um..." Sora looked up at the trees around her. They were making their way along the side of one of the many spurs leading up to the peak, and it was hard enough to keep from sliding down it without trying to climb trees for food as well. As for what they had packed...

"Well, there's some stale bread," Gabumon told her, rifling through Yamato's pack, which he had been wearing whilst his companion carried the bird. "A limp carrot, soy sauce, honey and a packet of uncooked rice."

"Rice sounds good!" Biyomon suggested, but Yamato shook his head.

"Not here. Let's get back up to the top of the ridge. This is _not_ a good place to stop and rest."

"Well, let's hurry up then!" In her eagerness, Biyomon seemed to have forgotten the battered and bruised state she was in. No sooner had she wriggled out of Sora's arms and taken to the air than the flopped to the ground.

"You silly thing." Yamato grinned, picking her up again. "You're not going anywhere on your own, you know."

Biyomon just sighed and settled for a long ride.

"Thanks," Sora said, once the bird had dozed off again. She was at the top of a particularly steep and rocky rise, ready to help Yamato after her.

"Well, it wouldn't have been fair for you to carry her the whole way." the boy replied, squeezing between two boulders.

"No not just for that." she slipped out of her pack and dumped it on the ground next to her so she could reach further down the space. "For calming her down. I might be Biyomon's partner, but I'm not always too good at getting her to listen to me."

"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense." Yamato shifted the bird to his left arm so that he could grab Sora's proffered one with his right.

"Well..." she paused to grip Yamato's forearm with her other hand. "She's the most immature of all our digimon, really. When we first met I mothered her a lot; I had to. But Bee wasn't too confident, so she tended to not question anything I said. But when she started growing up a bit and realised how much I got things wrong, she started to disagree with me at every opportunity."

"Another rebellious teenager, eh?" the blonde grinned. "Here, maybe I should pass her up to you. I can't very well climb this with one hand."

"Good idea." she relaxed her grip once he had found a new foothold and took a step down to take her digimon into her own hands. "As I was saying, thanks for being so firm with her. You've gotten a lot better like that. Playing with the Teenage Wolves has done wonders for your self-confidence."

"You think I've changed that much?" Sora had her back turned to him as she set Biyomon down next to her pack, but she heard the surprise in his voice.

"Sure you have. You don't have so many second thoughts and you're not so hard on yourself anymore. For a moment back there I almost thought I was talking to Taichi."

Yamato didn't reply. The brief surge of pride at Sora's first comment dissolved as soon as she mentioned Taichi. What, she thought Tai was the _only_ one who could be sensible and responsible? She had to compare the two of them? Couldn't she just take Yamato's behaviour for what it was? When she offered a hand to help him up, he yanked on it roughly, harder than he'd intended to and caught her off guard, pulling the girl towards him and propelling himself further than he needed to go.

Just beginning to make his ascent, Gabumon's eyebrows rose comically at the sight above him. Neither of the humans were laughing, though; they didn't even look at him. Sora's bewildered gaze was trapped by Yamato's steely one, his hand still clamped firmly around her forearm. There were too many emotions crowded onto Sora's face; confusion, a creeping apprehension and something else, too, something Gabumon couldn't quite put a name to. That open face, with its emotions clear for all to see, was never going to be any match for Yamato's unfeeling one. Sora finally looked down, blushing, and the boy released her arm with an expression even more obscure than the previous one. He turned away from her with a muttered apology and went to pick up Biyomon. And there they stayed, neither of the two daring to look in the other's general direction, let alone face.

Gabumon blinked owlishly a few times, then shook his head. He had no idea what was going on between those two, but he knew they were both trying to ignore it. And more than anything, he knew that that wouldn't work. Presently, though he had another problem.

"Could someone give me a hand here?"

Both humans started towards the stone stairway, but before they could be of any help they caught each other's eyes. Sora blushed again and Yamato's eyes narrowed, but they both shrank away from each other and from Gabumon, who sighed and reached for the first handhold.

******

It was well into the afternoon when Koushiro and Tentomon accidentally stumbled upon Taichi and Gomamon's prison. Stumbled is an understatement, really; Koushiro tripped and happened to land by a fissure in the rocks which carried the marine digimon's voice from the cave to his ears. When he began shouting with excitement, Gomamon replied delightedly and then immediately began scolding the human for being so loud. 

"Megadramon and Gigadramon take it in turns to sleep," he told them, "so we'll have to be careful not to make too much noise, or they'll know what's going on." 

"Okay. Well, that's something. What more can you tell us about your position. Gomamon?" 

"There's not much room." There was a pause for a while. "Neither of them are planning to leave the cave before sunset, and they probably won't come out while the rest of you are anywhere nearby, either. Too scared." 

"Hasn't it occurred to them that we could just come in?" Tentomon asked. 

"There's not much room to _get_ in. Lillymon or Rosemon could fit, but otherwise you'd have to come as rookies, and you wouldn't be able to do much that way." 

"So we'll send Rosemon in." 

"Erm... that might not be a very good idea. You know how I said it was small in here?" 

"Yeah, so?" Koushiro was getting impatient. 

"By small, I mean there's just enough room for Megadramon and Gigadramon to curl up in a ball together, with Taichi and I crammed into the corners. If Rosemon lands one strike on either of them, they'll both start thrashing around and Tai 'n' I will be dead before you know it." 

"We do have a problem then. So we have to find a way to get them out, eh?" 

"Yup. Normally I'd advise insulting them, but I'm the only one who's any good at that." 

"Very true, very true." Koushiro agreed. "Well, Tentomon and I will meet back with Mimi and Jyou, and we'll see what we can come up with. Don't worry, Gomamon, we're gunna get you out. But tell me, is Tai there? Can I speak to him?" 

It's lucky that Koushiro wasn't a people person, because otherwise he would have picked up on Gomamon's hesitation and noticed the slight uncertainty in his voice. He would have known that Gomamon was lying when he said, "No, uh, Tai's asleep right now." He would have felt even more uneasy that he already did when he walked away to find his friends and to tell them the good news. And he would never have guessed that as he drifted off to plan, Gomamon was worriedly watching their cheerful leader sit alone in the corner, staring blankly into empty space. 

****** 

It wasn't much of a cave. Just a split in the rock, almost invisible, that widened out a little as you walked down it. There had probably been other digimon that had lived in it over the years, wearing in a comfortable niche, but it was deserted when Gabumon stumbled across it. The day was getting old and Gabumon thought it would be a good idea if they got a few hours sleep each, at least. 

The little hollow was probably quite roomy for one digimon, but was decidedly cramped when it contained two of them and two humans to boot. Sora was pressed up against the far edge of the crack, hugging Biyomon to her body. Gabumon was worn out, dozing in a ball in the widest part of the shelter. Yamato stood by the entrance, trying to look cool and aloof but finding both body and style were cramped by the lack of head space. The humans hadn't spoken a word to one another in hours. 

"Not long now, eh?" Yamato said, at last. 

"Until what?" Sora replied. 

"Until Mordremon's curse strikes us down, of course." 

"Oh, that. No, probably not. I didn't bring a watch with me, so I don't know exactly what time it is, but it should be some time around dawn." 

"Do you think we should have pressed on?" 

Sora thought about that one for a moment. 

"No, not really. This time yesterday I would have said yes, but this time yesterday Biyomon was perfectly healthy. I think we're better off getting some rest, even if it is only an hour or two." 

"You're not worried, then?" 

By now, Sora was faintly amused. Yamato seemed to be doing his utmost to look like he didn't have a worry in the world, and for once he was doing it singularly badly. 

"What, you're getting last minute jitters?" she teased. 

"No!" was he huffy retort. "I'm just... well, two of us, one healthy digimon, out of the whole team? I hate being split up like this. What if you and I aren't enough?" 

"I know what you mean." Sora knew when to take him seriously. "I have thought about it and I agree, I'd much rather we were all together. This way we don't know if they'll be there, and they don't know if we will. I'm sure we'll manage, though. We've never been given anything we couldn't handle before." 

"No, I suppose not." 

She went on in earnest. "Besides which, I'm sure we can trust the others to come through. I doubt they're having any more trouble travelling than we are. All their digimon can reach the mega level now, after all."

Yamato nodded in agreement.

"And if nothing else, you can always count on Taichi to pull through."

She'd done it now. Once more, her blithe mention of their leader ignited that strange irritation lying just under Yamato's skin. He could feel his emotions shutting down almost before she said it, leaving only a peculiar sort of anger. When he spoke, he didn't look at her, but fixed his gaze coldly and insolently on the wall, as if it was somehow responsible, too.

"Oh, yes, there's _always_ Tai," he drawled, sounding more sarcastic than he'd meant to. Sora was noticeably shocked.

"W-what... what's wrong?"

"Just guarantees victory, doesn't it, so long as we have _Tai_."

"Yamato, why are you -"

"Hardly need the rest of us to even come along, do we, so long as _Tai_ is around."

"Now, really!" said Sora, getting annoyed now. "I thought you wanted reassurance. You're the one who was worried, after all."

"I never said I was worried!"

"Oh, please. It's written all over you."

"Well, look, that's... that's not the point! Why do you need _him_ to fall back on, anyhow? Aren't I just as good as he is? Don't you think I can pull you through?"

"Oh, so that's what this is all about." Sora had had enough. She cast aside the caring friend immediately. She could play the pain-in-the-bum as well. "You didn't want me to reassure your safety, just your ego."

That got his attention. At this point Yamato forgot himself and actually looked at his sparring partner - for that's what she had become. Before, the honesty of Sora's face had forced her to succumb to Yamato, but now its honest annoyance was an even match. The sight of this quiet girl so openly challenging him just drove his anger to even greater heights, and into territory he knew full well was forbidden.

"No, Sora, it's not about my ego, it's about him. Or rather, it's about the two of you."

The red-head's eyes narrowed dangerously. The sun was nearing the horizon now and the few rays of light that crept into their hideaway were a golden colour that made the fury in the room all the more potent. She'd never come close to proving all those stories about red-heads with tempers, but Yamato was coming close to changing all that. The girl didn't say a word, but dared him to go on all the same.

"I've been wondering, Sora, why you have such _faith_ in our good Taichi. You always just _know_ that you can rely on one another."

"We're friends. We have been for a long time now. And you know that, because you're our friend too." she said, challenging and warning all at once.

"But such unconditional praise! I wonder what he did to earn as much from you, Sora. Or is it you who went out of your way to be honoured by him?"

Taichi himself, with his crest of courage, would have quailed under Sora's glare.

"How long have you two been carrying on behind our backs, eh? All these long, long years you've been _friends_. You can't honestly tell me that's _all_ you've been, can you?"

Even Daisuke would have had enough sense not to continue if he saw the naked fury Sora was wearing now.

"For all I know, the two of you have been screwing around behind our backs even in the last few -"

Yamato had stopped then because Sora had stood up, dumping Biyomon on top of Gabumon, and thrown her pack at Yamato. He caught it just in time and stared at her, trying to mask his surprise. Belatedly, he realised he had overstepped the mark by a long shot. Sure, he'd been annoyed, but to call her a... well, that was almost unforgivable. And what had he been so angry about, anyway? She was saying nice things about Taichi. Why had that made him so angry? This was all so unreasonable.

He'd been on the brink of apologising when Sora ruined any chance of it by unleashing a string of words that Yamato was surprised she knew. Some of them he'd never even heard before, though they sounded fairly unpleasant. If he hadn't known better, he'd have thought she was making up expletives on the spot. But nevertheless, Sora was wholly successful in morphing Yamato's near-apology into a colder, harder anger.

"I'll take first guard." he said, in a dull voice, before dumping her pack on the ground and stalking outside.

As soon as he was gone, Sora slumped on the ground. Now she remembered why she avoided arguing - it was so draining. Jeez, she was even shaking! Trying to collect herself, she pulled Biyomon into her arms and leaned her head back against the rock.

"Was it really that bad - all the stuff he was saying?" the bird asked.

_Of course, you don't understand. Oh, so innocent._ Sora thought. "Yes, Bee, it was. That's about the worst things anyone can say to a girl."

"Is it really so bad you have to throw things at him?"

"Oh, Bee!" Sora laughed. "Not really, I suppose. But it made me so angry, because that really stung. It would hurt coming from anyone, but from Yamato it hurts ten times more."

"Why?"

"Well... that's a good question." She didn't have an answer for it. Even having Tai insult her wouldn't have hurt that much. She couldn't _really_ think more of Yamato than she did of Taichi, did she? But then, what did she think of Yamato? For several long, long minutes Sora sat and contemplated the question, growing more and more confused as the minutes passed.

The blonde was sitting outside and staring up at the first stars appearing in the wake of the now-orange sun. Curiously, he was thinking similar thoughts. He never would have expected Sora to react the way she had... but what would he have expected? What did he really know of her? And _why_ did its annoy him so much when she talked about Tai?

Well, he knew the answer to the last question, at least. The heat rising in his cheeks was evidence enough of that. And after some of the stuff he said back there, she probably did, too. She was the perceptive one, after all. So she either knew the truth, or... thought he was in love with Tai.

No, scratch that. She knew the truth. The alternative was too stupid to contemplate.

He was just thinking that he was exceptionally glad no-one was around to see him blushing, when he sensed something in the bushes somewhere to his left. _Or was there?_ He heard something rustle now, and stared intensely at the area... _yes_. A flash of blue-grey fur. The wolf had returned to the scene of the crime.

******

Banemon could smell the bird now. It filled him with both fear and hunger. He was slightly disappointed that it was injured; there would be no chase, and he loved it when he had a chase. But then again, a chase would be a risk, and he couldn't afford to risk anything. Much less his life. He knew somehow, in the way that wolves do, that he was going to be dead before the sun rose the next morning, but he'd be damned if it was at the hands of that bird.

He could see the hiding place now, and smell all four of the little group. All he had to do now was sit and wait for her to come out, and then it would be all over with. Not a very interesting way to spend the night, but it was necessary. There was a smell, though, a tempting one... fear. He could smell fear. The most exciting thing in the world for a hunter to smell.

It was the boy who was afraid. The one sitting outside, 'keeping watch' as they called it. He didn't _look_ scared, just kept looking through the bushes; but then, what could you tell about a human by looking at him? And then the boy saw. He looked through the bushes and suddenly he was looking straight at Banemon.

The smell of fear grew stronger.

Some people think animals - or digimon - have no imagination. That wasn't the case with Banemon. He could imagine in exquisite detail the way that boy could run, clumsy with panic. He imagined the deep thrill of stalking, knowing that he could catch his mark at any moment, but letting him run all the same. He savoured the dream of that glorious moment when the power overcame his restraint and he would streak forth and crunch the boy in his jaws and under his feet, then raising all three muzzles to the sky and howling his victory for all the mountain to hear...

NO! Focus. The hunter must be focused. It was the bird that he must hunt tonight. Not the boy. The boy was irrelevant. No, more than that, he was a distraction, a deliberate distraction. (In fact, at that very moment, Yamato was trying to think of a way to draw Banemon away from Gabumon, Biyomon and Sora.) Killing the bird was the only way to survive. To hunt the boy would mean chasing him right into the gates of Hell, gates which he, the image of Cerberus, was born to protect.

Yet he knew that he was destined to pass through that gate tonight. His entire life he had guarded it, but he had also been drawn to it. Over the last few days, the Fates had grasped the scruff of his necks and positively dragged him to it. To kill the bird was to survive, but it was also to deny Fate, and Banemon knew that he could never, ever resist Fate.

He had wanted to go out with a bang, hadn't he? What better way for a hunter to die than in the hunt? It would be a bitter glory, for certain, but a glory none the less. Despite the doom that hung in the air, Banemon gave a shiver at the thought of what was to come.

This had to be played right. He looked straight at the boy with all three heads and smelt the fear rise another notch. Oh, this was almost too much! Then he turned and crept stealthily towards the hideaway. Had to play it right...

That was enough. The boy reacted with the same instinct that Banemon would have had their positions been reversed. If you can't eliminate the danger, then draw it away from the pack. Yamato broke and ran, hoping that he could run far enough. And even if Banemon had not resigned himself to the hands of Fate, he could not have resisted the call to hunt that drew him after that boy.

******

Biyomon heard the slightest of sounds outside and nudged Sora to awake her from her thoughts. The two of them then called to Yamato, asking what was happening. Quickly they roused Gabumon, though this was difficult as the light was fading and not much could get into their niche anyway. The three of them scrambled outside, squinting in the burnt-orange light of the setting sun, which obscured more than it revealed. No Yamato, and no sign of where he had been.

Until a howl rent the air, in stunning three-part harmony. The three of them raised their eyes to the slope above them and saw the last thing they had expected, or wanted, to see. By those last orange rays of daylight, they saw Yamato, alive but defenceless, and Banemon standing over him, howling like he would never howl again.

~~~~~~

I was beginning to hate this fic, until I wrote that last chapter. It may have been a load of crap, but ye Gods, that was fun!


End file.
